Final Research Paper

For the final research paper I teamed up with my partner, Steven Kieffer, in order to help take some of the load off.  It was a great experience and I felt I came away with better understanding of the material as well as the process of working with someone on a project. 

Our hypothesis explored the idea that sites that were built in areas of non-prime agricultural land, like the grids found in N1E3, N2E3, and N3E3 (see map above), were able to support their site density by receiving resources from more fertile areas under control of the centralized governance. These poor production land regions would only be able to prosper if there was a government-wide maize agriculture system in place. This transition would effectively show a density increase in these areas around the time of Monte Alban IIIA period (A.D. 200-500) 

After anlaysizing the data we produced we were able to conclude that the final unification of Tlacolula and Ocotlan/Zimatlan helped changed the area into the Central/Etla region Zapotec State. The data supports the given hypothesis that a change in site density from Monte Alban II to Monte Alban IIIA increased and was maintained by centralized governance. This allowed the distribution and maintenance of a statewide maize agriculture.

Module 8 Remote Sensing

For our module 8 assignment we were tasked with finding and importing orthorectified aerial imagery and then creating two maps consisting of supervised classification and unsupervised classification. The Supervised classification focuses on 5 classes and the unsupervised classification focuses on 8 classes.

The area we focused this assignment on was found in Cahokia, Illinois at the site of Monk's Mound.  The site is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site as well as a U.S. National Historic Landmark.  The site is home to the largest prehistoric earthworks north of Mexico inhabited from  700-1400 A.D.

Module 7: Surface Interpolation

This week we were tasked with creating five images of interpolated surfaces from a single site located at the Volcán Barú, Panama and three images from the Machalilla Regional Settlement.  The interpolation methods used were Kernal Density, Kriging, IDW (Inverse Distance Weighted), Natural Neighbor, and Spline.

Shovel test data was taken in .txt format and reformatted to .xls as well as a .dxl for the AutoCAD section. We then had to update the information in those files in order for ArcMap to understand the data and not produce errors.  Additionally I really enjoyed getting more first hand knowledge of the tools within ArcToolbox.

Module 6 : Digitizing and Editing Large Datasets

This week we had to digitize and edit large datasets.  Honestly it was the hardest project I've done so far.  It took me roughly two weeks to finish and a lot of advice from a fellow classmate and our professor.  I ended up learning quite a bit including how to use SQL and query functions when creating a shapefile. It was a chore to read the old maps provided. Some of the landscape was skewed and  I did have trouble finding a good topographic map. Below you will see the ancient Valley of Oaxaca which contains georeferenced and digitized information.  

Process Summary:

1)      Open ArcMap, added the national geographic topographic basemap. Found the Valley of Oaxaca.

2)      Created jpgs for all necessary pictures in files provided including 1-3 4-1, appendix 1, 2, and 3. Cropped images and added for georeferencing.

3)      Georeferenced Figure 1-3 and 4-1 by changing the transparency and adding control points.

4)      Geo-referenced all images and saved as different group layers.  4-1 was easier to georeference due to the land cover depicted in the picture. 

6)      Created shapefiles for each required.

7)      Exported and saved as jpeg

8) Created  separate shapefile for the river, but ended up adding it do the land cover shapefile in order to not have so many maps.

3)      Moved on to the collection units and digitized as polygons. This part was the hardest.  I had trouble getting the collection site numbers to show up properly after using SQL and query options. Ended up having to convert labels to annotation and manually enter each site. 

4)      Site N2E3 was broken into three different pictures. This created a lot of overlapping, so I tried to place the site numbers as best as I could. In hind sight I would've preferred to create three separate shapefiles for each site.  Cest’ la vie!

 5)      Digitized the land cover and created hatch lines.

6)      Added all necessary map elements and exported. 

Module 5 Georeferencing Historic Map of Macao

The map below is of both a historic map and a present day aerial map of Macao. The overlay from 1785 was created during an expedition by James Cook and William Bligh.  You can see the slight variations of each map due to a 40% transparency added to the historic map document.

Module 4: Historic Records and Documents

This week focused on using historical records, documents, and images to create a map regarding Paul Revere and the location of his home in Boston, Massachusetts.  We also learned how to hyperlink addresses and add HTML's to Arcmap.  Great tools and a fun map to create!

Module 3 Ethics

For our lab assignment we were tasked with creating a map of  Jordanian archaeological sites, as well as the creation of a secure geodatabase and file structure. This map could be used to manage and monitor sites in Jordan by creating an assessment of the current condition of the sites mapped.  Additionally, we discussed a chapter from Brian Fagan's book, The Arrogant Archaeologist. This chapter describes his frustrations with treasure hunters and the need for more emphasis on conservation, ethics, and public education withing college level archaeology courses.

Module 2 Queries and Clips

For this lab we honed our skills by using queries and clips in order to produce a map showing information about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The fire was responsible for destroying a large part of the prosperous city.