A Settlement Landscape Reconstruction Approach Using GIS Analysis with Integrated Terrain Data of Land and Water: A Case Study of the Panlongcheng Site in the Shang Dynasty (Wuhan, China)

Abstract

The landscape of ancient sites has changed greatly with the passage of time. Among all of the factors, human activities and the change in natural environment are the main factors leading to the change in site landscape. The Panlongcheng site, which is located in Hubei Province, China, has a history of 3500 years with the most abundant relics in the Yangtze River Basin during the Shang Dynasty. As a near-water site, the landscape of the Panlongcheng site is greatly affected by water level changes and water conservancy activities. In this paper, by using spatial information technology, the data obtained from land and underwater archaeological exploration were integrated to restore landscapes of Panlongcheng sites in different periods. After removing modern artificial features and topsoil, the landscapes of the sites before the Shang Dynasty, in the Shang Dynasty and modern time were reconstructed. Combining historical records of water level changes, the landscape and water–land distribution of the Panlongcheng site were compared. The analysis results reflect the interaction between water level changes and human activities in this region for thousands of years, and support the archaeological findings in the near-water area of the Panlongcheng site, which provides a new idea for the landscape reconstruction and analysis of near-water sites.