From Geophysics to Building a Predictive GIS Model of Archaeological Sites in the African Interior: Spatial Archaeometric Applications of the Bosutswe Landscapes Regional Survey, Botswana

Summary

Expanding trade in gold and ivory in the first millennium linked sub-Saharan Africa to the Middle East and Asia through maritime and land-based exchange. This Indian Ocean trade supported the flow of exotic goods and ideas into the interior of southern Africa, where polities developed by the mid-13th century. The African experience has often focused on larger cities and coastal societies, or framed through viewpoints of those beyond the continent. In particular, landscape approaches, especially in the interior, have been few, particularly ones that integrate spatial archaeometric techniques.

Since 2014, Bosutswe Landscapes (BosLand) has combined geophysical, drone, and satellite remote sensing with traditional pedestrian survey and excavations to approach the local landscapes. This presentation introduces the BosLand project, especially our 2017 geospatial research. 2500 km2 of multispectral imagery was used to locate several dozen archaeological sites around Bosutswe, most of which were previously unknown. The paper will provide an overview of the project, the decision-making process involved in obtaining imagery, the general approach used for identifying sites and the predictive model, and early implications: practical logistics useful to Africanists interested in more fully integrating remote sensing into projects, especially those working in austere environments facing limited technological field resources.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18796