Paper maps and documents are often the primary sources of historical data and site reports. This week we focused on how to take this type of data and incorporate it into ArcMap documents. Being able to view and examine landscape data in this way is an important new method for analysis and interpretation in settlement pattern studies.
Maps and site data from a published report of a survey done in Oaxaca, Mexico were available as scanned files in .pdg format. The maps were made into jpegs and then georeferenced to a topographic basemap. Then they were digitized: grid squares, soil maps, and site plan maps. By combining these map layers, archaeologists can make inferences about settlement patterns and how these relate to environmental conditions.
The last step involved joining data in an Excel spreadsheet from the site report with the newly created shapefiles showing the sites in each grid. In this case, the resulting data shows the low population figures for the period IIIB sites in grid N9E8,
Looking at this map, it is difficult to make a guess about whether or not population size was a function of land type, since only 3 sites are involved.
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