GIS and Drones in the Middle Moche Valley: an Analysis of Huaca Menocucho

Author(s): Corey Hoover; Patrick Mullins; Brian Billman

Year: 2017

Summary

Huaca Menocucho is a prehistoric monumental center located in the middle Moche Valley on the northern coast of Peru. The site shows evidence of several construction and occupation phases of the Moche Valley cultural sequence (Prieto & Maquera, 2015). Huaca Menocucho and the surrounding area have faced looting and destruction from several sources. In July 2016, MOCHE, Inc. conducted a drone survey combined with a systematic surface artifact survey to record information about activities and taphonomy of the site's occupation. With the use of photogrammetry software, drone technology, geo-spatial analysis, and interpolation of surface artifact densities, this study outlines the spatial extents and densities of several of the site’s occupational phases. Additionally, this study explores how an integration of high-resolution site DEMs and systematic surface collections may assist archaeologists in investigating sites that have been heavily looted.

Cite this Record

GIS and Drones in the Middle Moche Valley: an Analysis of Huaca Menocucho. Corey Hoover, Patrick Mullins, Brian Billman. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 430593)

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Spatial Coverage

min long: -93.691; min lat: -56.945 ; max long: -31.113; max lat: 18.48 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16735