Spatial analysis for the study of environmental settlement patterns: The archaeological sites of the Santa Cruz province

Abstract

The aim of this work is to use spatial analysis to study relationships between environmental parameters and archaeological sites in the Santa Cruz province (Patagonia, Argentina) and to develop an analysis protocol that could reveal including and excluding factors, useful for the research and the discovery of new archaeological sites on the territory. Consequently, a model that considers interactions between sites and some parameters such as the elevation, the slope, the aspect, the landforms, the land use and the distances from water was constructed. Moreover a final sensibility map was produced, that wants to help the archaeologist to know, in every point in the space, how many and which are parameters that could increase the probability to find new archaeological sites and that are survey priorities on the study region.