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A GIS-Based Spatial Analysis of Factors that Influenced the Placement of Fire-Cracked Rock Features in the Upper Basin, Northern Arizona

Greenberg, April
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367924896

Abstract Details

2013, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Anthropology.
This thesis uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to evaluate factors that may account for the spatial pattern of fire-cracked rock (FCR) piles and scatters in the Grand Canyon-Upper Basin region. Prior investigations conducted by the Upper Basin Archaeological Research Project (UBARP) and limited excavation data indicate that FCR features were used by prehispanic groups to process undomesticated plants in bulk quantities. By exploring the spatial distribution of FCR features and their relationship to other types of archaeological phenomena, environmental and cultural factors that may have influenced their placement on the landscape are evaluated. Environmental characteristics such as slope, elevation, aspect, and attributes of terrestrial ecosystem units of Kaibab National Forest exhibit little variation where archaeological phenomena are documented. Therefore, such factors are considered inconsequential in FCR feature location. Behavioral processes that may have influenced FCR feature distribution are examined by identifying their spatial pattern and their relationship to neighboring archaeological remains. I argue that the presence of abandoned features and masonry structures, from which raw materials could be salvaged, influenced the placement of FCR features and structured how particular spaces functioned for later groups. Data generated in this analysis support Upper Basin land-use models and demonstrate the manner in which localized processes such as re-use of abandoned features are expressed in spatial patterns of the region’s archaeological record.
Alan Sullivan, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Susan Allen, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
62 p.
Archaeology
archaeology; GIS; spatial analysis; fire-cracked rock; southwest; ;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Greenberg, A. (2013). A GIS-Based Spatial Analysis of Factors that Influenced the Placement of Fire-Cracked Rock Features in the Upper Basin, Northern Arizona [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367924896

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Greenberg, April. A GIS-Based Spatial Analysis of Factors that Influenced the Placement of Fire-Cracked Rock Features in the Upper Basin, Northern Arizona. 2013. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367924896.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Greenberg, April. "A GIS-Based Spatial Analysis of Factors that Influenced the Placement of Fire-Cracked Rock Features in the Upper Basin, Northern Arizona." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367924896

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1367924896
459
© 2013, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License A GIS-Based Spatial Analysis of Factors that Influenced the Placement of Fire-Cracked Rock Features in the Upper Basin, Northern Arizona by April Greenberg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.