Remote Sensing of Anthropogenic Vegetation in Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico

Summary

Geospatial technologies, such as remote sensing and LIDAR, have enabled archaeologists to capture high-resolution information about landscapes and settlement patterns thus contextualizing sites through a wider landscape perspective. These tools have also facilitated the detection of otherwise "invisible" archaeological sites through image or spectral analyses and other visualization techniques. This paper examines the performance of vegetation indices for the detection of anthropogenic vegetation from past human-environmental interactions and land use, using freely available satellite imagery of the Sierra Sur in Oaxaca. Concentrations of anthropogenic vegetation can be used as an indicator of past settlement activity in the absence of visible surface remains. Illuminating past activity patterns over wide geographic areas through the remote sensing of vegetation, findings from this paper can advance our methodological approaches to regional survey and mapping of the Sierra Sur.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Mountain Towns and Crossroads: Archaeology of the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14767