1. West Virginia University
Experiential Landscape Archaeology: modeling structured landscape perspectives through geospatial technologies and Higuchi-style indices
L. Jesse Rouse
Dept of Geology and Geography
West Virginia University
Committee: Trevor Harris, Chair
Gary Lock
Ken Martis
Jennifer Miller
Briane Turley

2. Directions and ideas Space to place Phenomenology
GIS exogenous
Experience
Higuchi (Harris, LaKose and Rouse, 2005)
Formalizing the structure of experience 2

3. Landscape Archaeology
Cultural Landscapes
Landscape studies/histories
Landscape Archaeology in the UK
Spatial Science and Positivist Archaeology
Post-positivist backlash
GIS and Landscape Archaeology
Phenomenology 3

4. Tilley’s Experience of Landscape
Phenomenology of Landscape
link between the individual and the landscape
Based on the Phenomenology of Heidegger
Filtered through Tuan
Personal, visual perspective of the landscape 4

5. Evolution of phenomenology
Critique of phenomenology in LA
Difficult to capture personal experience
Lack of replicability
Individualistic
Phenomenological approaches
Husserl - lebensweldt or “lifeworld”
Heiddeger - dasein or “being in the world”
Merleau-Ponty
Tilley (2004) The Materiality of Stone 5

6. Geospatial Technologies
Spatial Science
GIS and Archaeology
1990s
Mapping, recording, predictive modeling
Geographic Information Science
GIS informed by theory
Social critique
Integrating new types of data and representation 6

7. Sensual GIS
Gillings and Goodrick (1996) looked at moving GIS beyond the flat 2D map
Make the experience interactive
Take full advantage of the senses
Sight, sound, touch, and smell
Primarily based on the representation of information
Visual can play an important role in modeling 7

8. Tadahiko Higuchi Holistic landscape assessment
based on human physiology and psycho- physical approach
how people perceive and view landscapes
viewshed elements based on human physiology and landscape aesthetics
Optimum
Angle of
elevation
Optimum
Angle of
depression 8

9. Traditional line-of-sight viewshed analysis
0-2m
2-5m
15-150m
150-1km
>1km
20%
40%
10%
10%
20%
Time spent on viewing distances
Hull and Stewart (1995) 9

10. Hi - Higuchi Indices Nine indices: Composite index Line of sight
Depth of invisibility
Distance zones
Angle of incidence
Angle of depression
Angle of Elevation
Light
Depth and texture gradient
Temporal
Composite index
Higuchi, 1986 10

11. Example Higuchi analysis
Laura LaKose, 2004
Utilized ideas from Higuchi to consider the landscape architecture of a rural area in WV
Focus is on the impact of an existing power plant on the landscape
Modeled Higuchi indices using COTS software 11

12. GAP LULC SSURGO GIS model 10m DEM 30-meter Landsat - 26 categories
vegetation
10m DEM

13. Depth and
Texture
Intervisibility
Short
Distance
Viewshed
Light
analysis
Mid-
Distance
Viewshed
Depth
of invisibility
Long
Distance
Viewshed
Angle of
depression

14. Composite Analysis Reds – poor viewshed qualities
Beige – viewshed quality
Green – good to exceptional
landscape quality

15. Converging ideas Phenomenological approach to landscape archaeology
GIS and landscape archaelogy
Physical and physiological perspective captured through Higuchi indices
Linking ideas and information in order to consider prehistoric cultural landscapes 15

16. Dissertation Goal
To develop a structured experiential and phenomenological approach to prehistoric landscapes through the linkage of Higuchi and archaeological indices utilizing geospatial technologies. 16

17. Objective 1 Review the literature on:
existing ideologies and methodologies used to explore landscape archaeology
geospatial technologies in archaeology, especially at the landscape scale
phenomenology in archaeology, and
Higuchi viewsheds. 17

18. Objective 2
Develop the conceptual model to link phenomenology, geospatial technologies and landscape archaeology:
Adapt, amend, and add to Higuchi’s nine viewshed indices to create an archaeological model to support a structured experiential approach to prehistoric landscapes
Insert archaeological specific indices based on taskscapes, resourcescapes, and symbology, and
tie phenomenological research to the spatial frameworks of Geography and landscape archaeology. 18

19. Objective 3
Develop GIS-supported Higuchi-based indices to study prehistoric landscapes by:
embedding existing Higuchi indices within GIS to take advantage of geospatial technologies
establishing archaeological indices that blends spatial assessment with interpretations of prehistoric life experience, and
coupling the GIS model results with personal and expert experience to interpret a given landscape that links egocentric and geocentric landscape perspectives. 19

20. Objective 4
Implement the developed indices through a case study based on an archaeological landscape by:
Utilizing archaeological and physiologically derived information
Conducting field visit(s) to test the ‘fit’ of the model obtained through implementing the indices in a GIS, and
Assessing how quantitative indices differ from expert/personal experience. 20

21. Objective 5
Evaluate the use of structured indices to support an experiential landscape archaeology to:
understand the role and importance of visual and experiential forms of interpretation based on insights gained from case studies,
determine how well the indices support a phenomenological approach to understanding past cultural landscapes,
determine future research avenues for structured indices in prehistoric archaeological landscape analysis. 21

22. Methods Build on cognitive, physiological and physical landscape
Generalize visual landscape qualities
GIS data analysis
Dynamic factors - plumes, clouds, mist, smoke
Link Higuchi to phenomenological approach
A structured landscape analysis 22

23. Ha - archaeology indices
Resourcescapes (Trufkovic, ND)
Taskscapes (Ingold, 1993)
Sustenance
Shelter
Community
Travel/movement
Sacred space 23

24. Hai – enhanced indices
Blend human physiology and culture to better understand human interaction with landscape
Viewshed
Perception
Biological necessity
Cultural interaction
Cosmology 24

25. Index perspectives Egocentric perspective (Hi)
Based on the experience of now
Takes into account memory to support the interpretation of current location
Personal perspective
Requires a personal experience of the current location only
Geocentric perspective (Ha)
Based on memory/knowledge
Builds beyond current location by utilizing knowledge of area beyond current view to link view with the larger landscape
Model perspective
Requires a personal experience of the location and an understanding beyond the current view
Hai 25

26. Phenomenology, Higucghi, and GIS
Existing attempts have focused on the egocentric
Building a shared experience of the landscape
Structured approach 26

27. Hai – proposed indices Line of sight Depth of invisibility
Distance zones
Angle of incidence, depression, and elevation
Light
Depth and texture gradient
Distance to water
Food acquisition
Material acquisition
Natural shelter 27

28. ‘Scapes to be indexed 28

29. Case Study Hopewell and Adena mounds
Woodland sacred and secular landscape
Extant mounds represent distinct visual and sacred sites
Recorded habitation sites considered to delineate possible communities
Culture closely linked to water resources and material resources (lithic materials, clay, sand)
Recorded camp sites and potential food resource sites considered 29

30. Expected findings
Build on existing attempts to integrate Higuchi into a GIS environment
Adapt Higuchi indexes and build additional indexes to better capture cultural landscapes
Merger of phenomenological experiences of landscape with structured indices and GIS 30

31. Timeline One year project duration Dec – Feb Feb – March March – July
Literature review and data acquisition
Feb – March
Create detailed indices and plan field visits
March – July
Field visits and data capture
Jan – Nov
Chapters as relevant work is completed
Revisions and editing as necessary 31