Tuekta Sycthian Burial Mounds, Reclassified Data

This week's lab was about taking several different landscape features and reclassifying them to create secondary coverages from previously created primary coverages.  We can use this data to show how the burial mounds related to their surrounding environment, such as elevation, aspect, slope, and contours.

Tuekta Scythian Archaeological Mounds in Russia

Our GIS Topics in Archaeology class completed a very interesting lab this week about the Scythian people of Russia, who created burial mounds long ago in this region.  We used data from the government satellites to locate mountain peaks, valleys, and everything in between to get a nice 3D effect, but we also used close up images of the actual mounds viewed from satellites to create a zoomed in image.  This area does not have a lot of data available, as one might think considering it's deep in the heart of Russia, but what we did find and use was more than adequate.

The Scythian people roamed the steppes and mountains of this area for thousands of years, and they left much archaeological evidence of how they lived and some of their culture.  They are a very interesting people, and you may want to read up on them.