Latin American Archaeology Database, University of Pittsburgh
URL: http://www.pitt.edu/~laad
Email: laad@pitt.edu 
Valle de la Plata Settlement Dataset
Robert D. Drennan

The Valle de la Plata Settlement Dataset complements the book Prehispanic Chiefdoms in the Valle de la Plata, Volume 5: Regional Settlement Patterns   edited by Robert D. Drennan (available from the University of Pittsburgh Latin American Archaeology Publications).  It consists of the detailed data from the regional survey carried out in the Valle de la Plata in the Andes of southern Colombia and discussed in full in the printed volume, whose contents are as follows:

Questions or comments about this dataset or the Latin American Archaeology Database can be directed to laad@pitt.edu via email. Users of the dataset are requested to credit the source of the information with bibliographic references to both the printed volume and the on-line dataset, as follows:

Drennan, Robert D., editor (2006a) Prehispanic Chiefdoms in the Valle de la Plata, Volume 5: Regional Settlement Patterns. University of Pittsburgh Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology, No. 16.
Drennan, Robert D. (2006b) Valle de la Plata Settlement Dataset. Latin American Archaeology Database, University of Pittsburgh. URL: <http://www.pitt.edu/~laad/>
 
CONTENTS OF THE DATASET 

This dataset contains three kinds of things: numeric data for individual collection lots in the survey, along with other ancillary datasets; a GIS dataset of maps providing locations of individual collection lots, distributions of settlement in different periods, and environmental variables as GIS datasets; and color images of illustrations that appear in black-and-white in the printed volume.

Numeric Data

Numeric data are provided in two file formats. Comma-delimited text files should be easy to import into spreadsheet, database, and statistical programs for manipulation and analysis. Excel spreadsheets are easier to browse, and can also be imported into many programs. The two numeric data files are as follows:

A complete listing of survey lots with information about collection technique, vegetation, ceramics recovered, etc. Data on the distribution of garbage around recent houses in Boyacá from the study discussed in Chapter 3.2.

GIS Dataset

Maps are included as a detailed GIS dataset, in several formats. Some maps are provided as AutoCAD (Release 12) .DXF files which can be read by many CAD and GIS programs. Others are provided as GIS layers in two formats: Idrisi (Version 14--Kilimanjaro) raster image files and GEOTIFF raster files, which can be imported into many GIS programs. The GIS datasets were created and analyzed with GRASS and Idrisi, and the GEOTIFF files were created with Idrisi. The formats of the maps provided in this section were not chosen for simple viewing, but rather for analysis. (The data values in many of the GEOTIFF files, for example, mean that, without contrast adjustments, they may look all black when viewed with a program such as Photoshop.) Color images of many of the maps that appear as black-and-white illustrations in the printed volume are available as .JPG files below under color images.

The coordinate system of the maps is derived from the UTM-based system utilized on the topographic maps of the Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi in Bogotá that were current at the time the survey was carried out. The units are expressed in kilometers in a planar Cartesian system. For IGAC coordinates whose range was over 1,000 km, initial digits were dropped for convenience (leaving, for example, 736 km instead of 1,736 km). The GIS image files are at a resolution of 10 m. The western survey zone GIS files cover an area of 31 km east-west and 21 km north-south (3100 columns by 2100 rows of cells). The central zone GIS files cover an area of 11 km east-west and 14 km north-south (1100 columns by 1400 rows of cells). And the eastern survey zone GIS file cover an area of 22 km east-west by 17 km north-south (2200 columns by 1700 rows of cells).

The GIS dataset includes the following:

Complete details of individual survey lot locations in each of the three survey zones, provided as AutoCAD .DXF files. Survey area boundaries for each of the three survey zones, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles.
Sample quadrats and sampling strata for the sampling program carried out in the eastern survey zone, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles. Distribution of occupation for each period in each of the three survey zones, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles.
Subdivisions of survey zones into districts or polities reflecting higher-order communities for some periods and survey zones, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles. Elevations above sea level for each of the three survey zones, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles.
Slopes for the western and central survey zones, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles. Soilscapes and productivity ratings for each of the three survey zones, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles.
Modern land use categories for the western and eastern survey zones, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles. Access to water for the eastern survey zone, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles.
Fast download of the entire GIS dataset, provided as Idrisi raster files and GEOTIFF raster riles.

Color Images

Photographs, maps, and other figures in which color is useful that could only be presented in black-and-white in the printed volume are available here as color .JPG image files:

All photographs that appear as figures in black-and-white in the printed volume. All settlement distributions that are represented as  surfaces in figures in the printed volume.
Most GIS maps that appear as figures in black-and-white in the printed volume.

Return to LAAD Homepage
Haga click aquí para la versión en español de esta Base de Datos