Archaeology and GIS

1. Archaeology and GIS

2. Introduction • Cultural Resource Management (CRM) is the practice of preserving and interpreting cultural resources. • CRM has been growing since the National Historic Preservation Act was passed in 1966. • CRM is performed by investigating sites that have archaeological potential. • CRM agencies employ Archaeologist to conduct site evaluations in order to determine the presence of cultural sites and materials.

3. The Goals of CRM • To preserve the Nation's history and prehistory that would otherwise be lost in the expansion of cities, dams, and highways. • To identify, preserve, and maintain cultural sites on public and private lands. • To preserve cultural artifacts that would otherwise be destroyed due to development.

4. Purpose of GIS in CRM • GIS can be used to: • Assist in examining the spatial distribution of archaeological sites • Assist in determining the geographic make-up of sites, such as wetlands and utilities • Assist in identifying new archaeological sites based on common site characteristics • Analyze and predict where potential archaeology sites are located

5. Data • Archaeological and Major utility data was obtained from the Fairfax County Cultural Resource and Protections Department Files • 1:310, 319 ; 1:123,027 • Vector Data • FFX Archaeological files – not available to the general public • FFX hydrography/boundary layershttp://data.geocomm.com/ - public • FFX Soils polygon file - http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/gisapps/metadata/default.asp - public • NAD_1983_Stateplane_Virginia_North_FIPS_4501_Feet_Lambert_Conformal_Conic

6. Data • Fairfax County Border (polygon) SDE Feature Class File • Fairfax County Planning District (polygon) SDE Feature Class File • Fairfax County Archaeological sites – Shapefile • FFX Water Features (polygon) – Feature Class • FFX Major Utilities – Feature Class • FFX Soils (polygon) - Shapefile

7. CRM in Fairfax County • Examine the site boundary to determine what obstacles are present. • Some characteristics to consider would be major utilities or wetland locations.

8. Map of FFX Water Features

9. Map of FFX Major Utilities

10. Analysis • Select by location – located all the Archaeological sites that were occupied by Native Americans. • Created a layer for all the Native American sites • Export Native American .dbf from Archaeology layer to create a Native American attribute table • Selected Feature – Mount Vernon Exhibition Area • Created a new layer from the selected feature. • Select by location all of the soils that were within the Mount Vernon Exhibition Area.

11. FFX distribution of Archaeology Sites

12. FFX Native American Sites

13. Attributes of Native American Sites

14. Selected Feature – Mount Vernon Exhibition Area

16. Select by Location – Soils

17. Soil Attributes Table for Mount Vernon Exhibition Area

18. Analysis (cont) • Compare site characteristics of Mount Vernon Exhibition Area with areas that share common traits • Lithics and soil type were the variables used to test other areas • Constructed a successful predictive model to locate potential areas to carry out conservation and protective efforts.

19. Marine Clay Deposits • Examined what soil types were present in the Mount Vernon Exhibition Area • Select by location all of the soils that contained marine clay deposits

20. Lithics Comparison with near-by Native American Sites Q – Quartz C – Chert R – Rhyolite S – Soapstone Z - Quartzite

22. Potential Areas for New Native American Archaeology Sites Heads-up digitizing to mark potential Native American sites based on soil type and lithics.

23. Conclusion • GIS is useful in producing maps of current archaeological sites to assist in finding new areas for conservation and protection. • GIS is useful in creating a “user friendly” database of archaeological sites • GIS is useful in examining the spatial distribution of archaeology sites