Repeat Photography and Cultural Resource Management: A Case Study from Glen Canyon, Arizona

Summary

Repeat photography, the collection of multiple photographs of the same subject from an identical location, is an effective technique for documenting the natural and cultural processes impacting archaeological sites, yet remains underutilized in cultural resource management. Analysis of repeat photographs may yield important data for understanding the processes affecting site integrity, which could result in improved site preservation and management. In this paper, repeat photographs collected over a twenty-year period are analyzed to assess the impact of three high-flow experiments (HFEs), controlled water releases from Glen Canyon Dam, on an archaeological site located downstream in Glen Canyon. To conduct the analysis, I used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to document observed changes and estimate the percentage change between images using the grid intersect method developed by Hall (2002). The analysis demonstrated erosion caused by HFEs has decreased since 1996, likely resulting from a 200 percent increase in riparian vegetation along the terrace cutbank and changes in HFE management. These observations indicate repeat photography is a suitable monitoring technique for documenting the long- and short-term changes to archaeological sites and cultural landscapes, the results of which are easily discernible to resource managers and stakeholders.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16554