Hello AMN’ers –
I’m researching predictive modelling of cultural values:
– sacred sites
– culturally modified trees
– monumental cedar
– archaeological potential
I’ve looked at several GIS models and methodologies but have not yet researched any in-depth.
Does anyone have any recommendations on models, criteria or other resources that can help predict cultural values?
I have a limited amount of field-surveyed data but am expecting to rely on assumptions about coarse data such as forest inventory, slope, distance to water, etc… By identifying areas of potential we can more effectively direct our field-survey crews.
If you have a similar project perhaps we can bounce ideas off each other.
Hope to hear from you, Lucy
Hi Lucy,
I know this is a bit late, but I wanted to add it in case other people found the information useful.
Parks Canada had a summer student that completed a review of a few existing Archaeological Potential Models. While the report is not yet ready for public distribution, the student reviewed the following models:
The contact person at Parks Canada is Tara Sharma.
Best, Eliana.
I can tell you offhand (based on past experience) that in BC, for predicted Arch Sites,
the general criteria is that if it is flat, and near water, than it has high arch potential, with this regard, from NE BC, very little has been done to develop a comprehensive coverage of the region and Arch Potential literally, is an untouched resource.
Regionally, only the peace river corridor has been analyze. This is due mainly to limited acces and feasability assessments of various operations that the Arch company might be doing. BC Hydro got fined for drilling into one of these potential sites (though nothing was ground truthed) while prospecting their proposed Site C dam. So maybe BC Hydro as a result has collected some concrete information, perhaps get in touch with those guys (though they hate to share information!)
Ecofor does lots of Arch work in the region and would definitely offer more knowledge in this (perhaps share some of those treasured models)
http://www.ecofor.ca/index.php?page=Archaeology%20and%20Cultural%20Resources