Estimating Moving Regions out of Point Data – from Excavation Sites in the Amazon region to Areas of Influence of Prehistoric Cultures

Abstract

How can we derive the changing area of influence of specific cultures from only a few excavation sites in the Amazon region? The approach used for calculating areas of influence for several time intervals strongly depends on the kind of available input data and the examined issues. Our approach divides the input point data into different time intervals and calculates an area (or areas) of influence for each, factoring in spatial and temporal uncertainties inherent in the data. The computation is based on a cost surface, which is derived from the needs and capabilities of the analyzed prehistoric culture or tradition. To take into ac-count that archaeological data is inherently vague, the database is able to handle spatial uncertainties by applying varying maximum distances. Based on the cost raster and the maximum distance a maximum cost value is calculated which is used to derive the said area(s) of influence, which can then be analyzed for changes.