Time, Place, and Community: Visualizing the Living Cherokee landscape

Summary

First Landscapes is a digital conservation project with two major goals: to protect and preserve First Nation/Native American heritage in culturally situated manner, and to make information accessible and usable in ways determined by stakeholders. This project organizes and presents results of several seasons of archaeological fieldwork as well as historical documents, maps, ethnographic records, and imagery by and about Cherokee people curated in several institutions across the United States. Recent and ongoing archaeological work at the historic Cherokee Towns of Cowee (31MA4) and Nvnvnyi (31SW3) included discovery of abundant evidence of architectural remains through remote sensing (Ground Penetrating Radar, magnetometry, resistivity) and excavations. 3D models present each kind of imagery as a flyover and fly-through experience. The First Landscapes web interface and mobile app give the ability to traverse the Cherokee landscape replete with Cherokee names, stories, images, and information through exhibits organized by territorial divisions that are historically documented and that Cherokees implement today. Within these exhibits are areas and locations that range from well preserved or well-known to nearly destroyed. QGIS, mbira, and other open source programs offer opportunities for new ways of visualizing spatial data that benefit both archaeological professionals and the public.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond (between, within, through) the Grid: The Contours of Mapping and GIS in Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15017