Distribution of Design: The Rayed Circle

Abstract

The importance of the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) in archaeological applications has been demonstrated previously. The value of using a GIS approach is an ability to conduct multivariate spatial analyses in order to visualize complex social relationships, interactions, and distributions across a broad cultural landscape. Within Caddo archaeology, the utilization of GIS functionality to explore spatial phenomenon has been employed in a variety of ways, such as site organization and interaction, material distribution and exchange, and environmental modeling and landscape reconstruction, to name a few. The following report adds to the growing list of GIS-based case studies in Caddo archaeology with preliminary results of an on-going project evaluating the distribution of visual imagery depicted on a select corpus of whole Caddo ceramic vessels.