GIS 5990 Module 6: Scythian Landscapes, Analyze Week

Geographic variables and Scythian mound locations.

This module continued our exploration of Scythian burial mounds near Tuekta, Russia. The majority of the assignment involved creating layers representing geographic variables that may have affected where mounds and other sites were placed. As seen in the map above, these variables include the topography, slope, aspect, and elevation of the region. The raw rasters representing slope, aspect, and elevation were reclassified to show the regions most and least likely to feature sites. The most favorable areas will be relatively flat, low elevation, and facing south (if they are on a slope at all). We also digitized points representing the centers of mounds in the provided aerial imagery. I was surprised to find so many, as previously I had focused mostly on the line of largest mounds in the eastern portion of the image. I ended up digitizing 66 mounds, although there are likely more. The pattern immediately seen is that the mounds form a series of lines running roughly north-south, with most of the lines trending towards a NNE-SSW orientation.