Least-cost pathway analysis and inter-regional interaction in the Göksu valley, Turkey

Abstract

Recent work in the Göksu river valley has brought questions of long-distance communication routes to the forefront of discussion. The valley has been long regarded as a potential conduit from the Anatolian plateau to the Mediterranean, yet no formal testing as to whether it was geographically suited to this use has taken place. The discovery of the site of Çömlek Tepesi in the upper Göksu valley and work at Kilse Tepe south of Mut has given further weight to the idea that the valley served as a communication route at points in time, and has encouraged testing the notion that a route through the valley would be attractive based on geography. Computerised modelling using least-cost pathway analysis (LCPA) was used to test whether the Göksu valley could serve as a communication route, and if so, the approximate location of that route based upon geographical constraints. In this paper, the methods of LCPA are reviewed and an example of its use is presented. Advocated as an exploratory rather than explanatory technique, the application of LCPA in the Göksu valley has strengthened current assumptions about regional and extra-regional interaction and raised new questions that refined the project's research design.

SARchaeology—Detecting Palaeochannels Based on High Resolution Radar Data and Their Impact of Changes in the Settlement Pattern in Cilicia (Turkey)

“…Gülek Boğazı) at an elevation of 1290 m connect Anatolia with the plain and serve as the main passageway for railroad tracks and major vehicular roads up until this day. In the westernmost part of Plain Cilicia, forming the transition to Rough Cilicia, the Göksu Valley stretches north-south from the Konya Plain to coastal Silifke and represented an important connection to Anatolia in antiquity [6] (p. 88). The Bahçe Pass ("Amanian Gates") in the East leads over the Amanus Range and serves as a passage between Cilicia and the Islahiye Plain.…”

Juxtaposing GIS and Archaeologically Mapped Ancient Road Routes

“…Encouraged by the spatial turns in archaeology and history, and the computational power of geospatial technologies, many studies about the past are employing GIS together with archaeological approaches to map and understand how road networks shaped human mobility patterns [12,[28][29][30]. Least-cost path analysis (LCPA) is the most widely used GIS technique for determining optimal pathways between points (e.g., cities) on a cost surface created at point of origin based on one or more criteria [16][17][18]28,31,32].…”

“…Encouraged by the spatial turns in archaeology and history, and the computational power of geospatial technologies, many studies about the past are employing GIS together with archaeological approaches to map and understand how road networks shaped human mobility patterns [12,[28][29][30]. Least-cost path analysis (LCPA) is the most widely used GIS technique for determining optimal pathways between points (e.g., cities) on a cost surface created at point of origin based on one or more criteria [16][17][18]28,31,32]. LCPA pathways are drawn starting at destination (i.e., target) and ending at origin (i.e., source) points, which makes identifying these points based on characteristics such as functions, roles, and pull or push factors that cause unequal 'two-way' movement between settlements an important step (Figure 2) [32].…”

Empires reconsidered: current archaeological approaches

“…Approaches applied through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), for example, can provide startling insights into how affairs ranging from daily practice to imperial strategy played out and can inform the direction of new research (Newhard et al 2008;Kosiba and Bauer 2012). At least in the region in which I work, the Andes, network analysis tends to highlight two elements of the sociopolitical landscape as givens: settlements and road networks.…”