Multiscale Geospatial Image Analysis of Agricultural Landscapes and architecture in Higland Peru

Summary

Large scale survey of anthropogenic landscapes using traditional methods requires considerable fieldwork time and effort. Diverse air- and space-borne imagery enables registry of key data prior to the execution of field research. We present a multiscale imagery-based survey methodology to optimize limited research resources and to broaden the scale of archaeological landscape research. This broader approach enables identification and mapping of agricultural terraces, canals, and architectural features from the Lurin valley of the central Peruvian highlands. The identification of features enable definition of the extent of agricultural infrastructure and how it changed over time. Of interest in this case study are the effects of compulsory urbanism during the Spanish colonial era, towns as a large proportion of the population was resettled from more dispersed settlements to compact planned colonial towns. By using a feature extraction routine using declassified Corona satellite imagery and high-resolution panchromatic aerial photography, we identify and extract features of the agricultural landscape in the area. The integrated multiscalar approach enables identification of more cultural features over a larger area than traditional methods, and provide more accurate preliminary data for fieldwork.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage