Approaching a Mortuary Monument Landscape Using GIS- and ALS-Generated 3D Models

Abstract

In this study we examined how a GIS-based viewshed analysis that integrates movement could be used to provide substantial knowledge about the placement of Bronze Age grave cairns along the coast in a study area in Brunlanes, Larvik in South-East Norway. Additionally we studied the significance of digital elevation model quality for the interpretation of the viewshed analysis and for encluding palaeo-environmental changes (uplifting of land) in the analysis. Two sets of viewshed analyses were carried out from seven potential sailing routes based on a 20-metre and one-metre resolution DEM. The results indicate that the grave cairns were placed on the skyline in order to stand out more clearly to observers approaching from the sea, and that the DEM quality is of importance for the interpretation. Taking palaeo-environmental issues into consideration, we found that the effects of the uplifting of land were proven to affect visibility whereas vegetation was not an obstacle.

Employment, Utilization, and Development of Airborne Laser Scanning in Fenno-Scandinavian Archaeology—A Review

“…Risbøl et al [131] carried out a GIS-based viewshed analysis along the coastline in Brunlanes in south-eastern Norway, focusing on Bronze Age burial cairns and their landscape contexts. An ALS data set constituted the basis for an examination of how detailed DEMs can help improve the foundation for visual landscape studies.…”

Mapping liminality: Critical frameworks for the GIS-based modelling of visibility

“…Whilst the applicability of viewsheds to the analysis of this 83 kind of structure may seem uncontentious, the studies carried out have tended to settle on a simple 84 binary in-view-of/out-of-view assessment centred upon the construction deemed to be either 85 viewing or viewed (e.g. Gaffney and Stančič 1991; Risbøl et al, 2013;Kantner and Hobgood 2016). 86…”