Creation of a GIS-based model for buried cultural resources in Kansas

Mandel, Rolfe; Layzell, Anthony; Andrzejewski, Kolbe

A report outlining the grant-funded project to create Geographic Information System (GIS) data layers that spatially delineate different landform-sediment assemblages (LSAs) and depict the associated geologic potential for buried cultural deposits in select counties of eastern Kansas. From the Introduction: "The goal of this project was to develop Geographic Information System (GIS) data layers that spatially delineate different landform-sediment assemblages (LSAs) and depict the associated geologic potential for buried cultural deposits in select counties of eastern Kansas. LSAs are landforms and underlying packages of sediment and associated soils with predictable age relationships. The impetus for considering LSAs in an archeological context is that the archeological record is a component of the sedimentary record; hence, physical processes that remove, modify, and bury sediments control the preservation and visibility of the record of the human past. Conceptualizing the landscape in this manner provides archeologists with a range of powerful tools for locating, evaluating, and interpreting cultural resources preserved in sediments that constitute the modern landscape (Mandel, 2006a). Thus, the developed GIS data layers will inform cultural resource specialists involved in project planning and development as to whether project areas are likely to be free of deeply buried cultural materials or whether subsurface exploration is necessary." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Kansas State Historical Society, administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P19AF00217).

Creation of a GIS-based model for buried cultural resources in Kansas

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