GIS, Technology, and Chaco Canyon

New technologies are helping us learn more about Chaco Canyon including GPS, GIS, Infrared and computer modeling software technologies. Here are a few samples:

GIS map of Chaco foot paths

Using GIS, foot paths could be generated and compared with the actual road segments. For example, a common interpretation of the roads is that they facilitated economic exchange and foot travel between Chacoan communities. Using GIS could create models of the paths between the communities that minimized travel time. The resulting network could then be compared with the prehistoric road segments to see how closely the modeled paths fit the actual routes of the roads. The specific expectations and evaluations of the models met with some unexpected patterns revealed in this study.

Source: http://sipapu.ucsb.edu/roads/full.html

GIS topographic map from NASA of Chaco roads

“The Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) was flown by NASA over Chaco Canyon for the first time in spring of 1982. TIMS measures temperature differences near the ground, it has five meter resolution. Prehistoric roads from 900 or 1000 AD were detected. The roads could not be discerned by the naked eye from ground level. They also could not be seen in either aerial photography or color infrared photographs.”

Source: http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/archeology/chaco.html

Chart showing types of uses for roads

The road segments in the study area did not facilitate regional economic interaction. The evidence instead suggests that they served more localized religious, integrative, and perhaps political functions. This conclusion indicates that the distribution of prehistoric roads is not necessarily an adequate measure of economic and political integration in the region surrounding Chaco Canyon.

Source: http://sipapu.ucsb.edu/roads/full.html