Panorama of pre-colonial archaeological sites in Minas Gerais: Geographic Information System mapping and basic metrics

Abstract

This paper presents georeferenced archaeological sites with pre-colonial components (including sites classified as exclusively pre-colonial, contact sites, and multicomponential) located in Minas Gerais county and their relations to several aspects of the landscape in the GIS environment. Data on 2091 sites were compiled from academic research, preservation area investigations, and studies before development projects. From that database in GIS, some basic metrics were generated, presented here by graphs and themed maps. Therefore, some general tendencies of landscape locations of different types of sites are highlighted. Also, by the end of the paper, some thoughts are offered on the challenges of working with databases such as this one.

Keywords
Pre-colonial archaeological sites; Minas Gerais; Geographic Information Systems; Archaeological cartography; Geoarchaeology