Experiencing the dead: GIS and the Phenomenology of Funerary Practice | Agata Calabrese | CAAA2020

Описание: Experiencing the dead: GIS and the Phenomenology of Funerary Practice in EBA North Mesopotamia.
Agata M.C. Calabrese

This paper will employ GIS in exploring the experiential aspects of the burial process in Early Bronze Age North Mesopotamia. To investigate past sensorial experiences, a multi-criteria cost-surface and visibility analysis were performed on a 10m DEM and land-cover map, in order to model movement, proximity and visibility aspects. Finally, an audio and smell analysis explored the potential impact of vocal/musical sound and odour, associated with burial rituals. A 10m resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was developed to locate key Early Bronze Age sites (i.e. Ebla, Mari, Gre Virike, Tell Banat and Ugarit) and as foundation for further analysis. The DEM was created using spatial datasets from French and Soviet maps, CORONA satellite images, ASTER DEM V.2, ESRI ArcGIS basemaps, and individual site maps for each archaeological site analysed. A land-cover map was also created to support the analysis drawn from three main datasets, the Global Land Survey (1975), CORINE Land Cover (1990) and the Vector Map (VMAP). The results suggest that there was more than one significant sensory experience associated with the funerary arena in Early Bronze Age Mesopotamian society. The funerary sphere involved many different aspects and rituals (i.e. lamentations, food consumption, music and visible displays). Moreover, this study showed that GIS-based analysis, when used critically, is a valuable tool in studying past landscape perception.

Presented on September 12 2020 as part of CAA Australasia Digital Archaeology Conference.

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