Andean landscape legacies: comprehensive remote sensing mapping and GIS analysis of long-term settlement and land use for sustainable futures (NW argentina)
Open accessAbstract
The Andes region has an exceptional record of high-altitude settlements integrated within widespread regional chains of mobility and exchange. The Sierra de Aconquija (NW Argentina, south-central Andes) is an effective climatic barrier that has afforded an enduring indigenous approach to land use, mobility, and exchange over millennia. Despite this rich history, the Sierra has been largely considered marginal in pre-Columbian regional cultural developments. Today, the expansion of extractive industries threatens the region’s heritage and the sustainable futures of local communities. Innovative, integrative methodologies are needed for landscape characterisation, heritage assessment, and sustainable policy development. Building on earlier work, we undertook the first comprehensive mapping of archaeological features over 3800 sq. km of the Sierra using interpreter-led assessment of commercial and open-access satellite imagery and DSM data, to verify earlier assumptions and to identify previously unnoticed trends in the aggregation, distribution, and connectivity of archaeological features. The mapping identified 6794 features distributed unevenly but with clear tendencies towards maximising topographic, ecologic, and connectivity advantages expressed consistently across the study area. The outcomes confirm the important role the Sierra had in pre-Hispanic times, highlighting the significance of ancient indigenous practices for the sustainability of vulnerable upland landscapes both in the Andes and worldwide.
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Cited by
Still being checked.
- Authors
- Lazzari, M., Oltean, I., Oyaneder Rodríguez, A., Scattolin, M. C., & Pereyra Domingorena, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Department of Archaeology and History, University of Exeter, North Park Road, Exeter EX4 4QE, UK
- Instituto de las Culturas, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Bartolomé Mitre 1970, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1039AAD, Argentina
- Corresponding author
- Lazzari, Marisa
- ORCID
- Venue
- Remote Sensing
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2024-10-12
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 3795
- ISSN
- 2072-4292 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4403381246
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3
- FWCI
- 3.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Remote Sensing (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- FILO - Digital (University of Buenos Aires) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Conicet (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- UoE- GCRFF Program, University of Exeter (AH/1025417/1, PICT-2020-SERIEA-01688)
- PI Lazzari, Co-Is Oltean (AH/1025417/1, PICT-2020-SERIEA-01688)
- GCRF and Newton Consolidation Accounts (GCNA) (AH/1025417/1, PICT-2020-SERIEA-01688)
- Argentinean National Agency for Science and Technology (ANPCyT) (AH/1025417/1, PICT-2020-SERIEA-01688)
- PI MC Scattolin (AH/1025417/1, PICT-2020-SERIEA-01688)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Archaeological Research and Protection
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory
- Keywords
- pre-Columbian archaeology, satellite image interpretation, digital surface model, landscape connectivity, indigenous land use, cultural heritage assessment, sustainable land use, upland landscapes, landscape characterization
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