Thesis
Places of practice: Interpreting settlement patterns and persistent places in southern Oregon
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
05/2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000003998
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/124678
Abstract
This study takes a landscape-scale approach to understanding the role of place in determining settlement patterns in southern Oregon. Persistent use of settlement locations transforms these spaces into places, or locations where memory and identity become embedded. In order to test how this phenomenon influences settlement location, two methods of geospatial analysis were used: site suitability modeling and density-based clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). A site suitability model based on culturally specific environmental variables was designed to establish a baseline of where sites can be located based on material constraints such as resource availability. Next, DBSCAN clustering was run on the location of archaeological sites and compared to a set of randomized site locations. This was done to assess if the true distribution of sites on the landscape meets expectations based solely on environmental factors. The results of this analysis demonstrate a region-wide pattern of persistence in particular places despite the wide availability of environmentally suitable land, which suggests that places with previous human occupation were chosen preferentially for settlement. Given the cultural context of southern Oregon, this pattern is interpreted as an attachment to ancestral places of practice, where important lifeways have been carried out by indigenous peoples across generations.
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Details
- Title
- Places of practice
- Creators
- Emily Helmer
- Contributors
- Shannon Tushingham (Advisor) - Washington State University, Department of Anthropology
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Anthropology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Identifiers
- 99900890797401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis