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Cambridge University Press (CUP), Advances in Archaeological Practice, 4(8), p. 361-375, 2020

DOI: 10.1017/aap.2020.18

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The Integration of Lidar and Legacy Datasets Provides Improved Explanations for the Spatial Patterning of Shell Rings in the American Southeast

Journal article published in 2020 by Dylan S. Davis ORCID, Robert J. DiNapoli, Matthew C. Sanger ORCID, Carl P. Lipo
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Preprint: archiving allowed
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Postprint: archiving allowed
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Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

ABSTRACTArchaeologists have struggled to combine remotely sensed datasets with preexisting information for landscape-level analyses. In the American Southeast, for example, analyses of lidar data using automated feature extraction algorithms have led to the identification of over 40 potential new pre-European-contact Native American shell ring deposits in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Such datasets are vital for understanding settlement distributions, yet a comprehensive assessment requires remotely sensed and previously surveyed archaeological data. Here, we use legacy data and airborne lidar-derived information to conduct a series of point pattern analyses using spatial models that we designed to assess the factors that best explain the location of shell rings. The results reveal that ring deposit locations are highly clustered and best explained through a combination of environmental conditions such as distance to water and elevation as well as social factors.