The (Re)construction of Ancient Indigenous Landscapes through Visibility Analyses. Analysing visibility patterns from multiple viewsheds during the Late Ceramic Age (AD 800-1500) in the coastal zone of the Montecristi Province, Dominican Republic.

In this thesis an attempt was made in order to (re)construct ancient indigenous landscapes through visibility analyses, during the Late Ceramic Age (AD 800- 1500) in the coastal zone of the Montecristi, the Dominican Republic. The northern part of the Dominican Republic has been very important in understanding the Spanish conquest of the island, since is one of the first areas where indigenous communities encountered the Europeans. At the time the Europeans arrived in the New World, complex indigenous exchange networks connected the Caribbean islands with the mainland of South America. The information that the indigenous peoples gave to the Spaniards about these networks was crucial for the conquest of the Caribbean. Visibility is considered to be an important parameter to (re)construct the indigenous socio-political dynamics in the Caribbean. In the defined case-study area, 44 sites were categorized by altitude and size and used to carry out multiple viewshed analyses in order to...Show moreIn this thesis an attempt was made in order to (re)construct ancient indigenous landscapes through visibility analyses, during the Late Ceramic Age (AD 800- 1500) in the coastal zone of the Montecristi, the Dominican Republic. The northern part of the Dominican Republic has been very important in understanding the Spanish conquest of the island, since is one of the first areas where indigenous communities encountered the Europeans. At the time the Europeans arrived in the New World, complex indigenous exchange networks connected the Caribbean islands with the mainland of South America. The information that the indigenous peoples gave to the Spaniards about these networks was crucial for the conquest of the Caribbean. Visibility is considered to be an important parameter to (re)construct the indigenous socio-political dynamics in the Caribbean. In the defined case-study area, 44 sites were categorized by altitude and size and used to carry out multiple viewshed analyses in order to analyze the relationship between the sites and the visual prominent geomorphological areas in the casestudy area, the reconstruction of role of visibility in the determination of site location, the relationship between multiple viewsheds and site clusters and the possible role of visibility in the control of marine resources and indigenous communication networks. The multiple viewshed analyses revealed that it is possible that the low-elevated (Meillacoid) sites in the coastal lowlands are able to visually control the coastal and coastal lowland area, the (Meillacoid) hilltop sites overview the hinterland, that most of the (Meillacoid) sites can see at least three other surrounding sites, that sites within a similar geomorphological area are more likely to overview each other then sites without such a shared aspect and that there could have been an indigenous visibility network, in which the large (Meillacoid) hilltop sites had indirect control over the coastal zone.Show less

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The (Re)construction of Ancient Indigenous Landscapes through Visibility Analyses. Analysing visibility patterns from multiple viewsheds during the Late Ceramic Age (AD 800-1500) in the coastal zone of the Montecristi Province, Dominican Republic.