Dixie Archaeology Society – Reconstruction of Prehistoric Social Landscapes using GIS

ARCH-UPAN-PublicSpacesPrivatePlaces

The Dixie Archaeology Society hosts Technical Presentations on topics of interest to members. Join us for Public Places and Private Spaces: Social Construction of Landscapes in Prehistoric Utah by Elizabeth Hora – Public Archaeologist at the Utah State Historic Preservation Office. Elizabeth Hora is an archaeologist at the Utah State Historic Preservation Office located in Salt Lake City. She received her Master of Science from Utah State University with a thesis focused on understanding human behavior using radiocarbon dates and dendrochronology. She lives in the Wasatch Back with her husband, new son, and two dogs – all of whom she subjects to long hikes to visit prehistoric ruins across the state.

About her presentation:

We all move through spaces layered with meaning. How we dress for church, how loudly we speak in libraries, and who we talk to on the street are all decisions informed by the places and spaces we find ourselves in. In just the same way that we have constructed a social landscape in our cities and towns, prehistoric people too modified and encoded the natural landscape to suit their own social needs. Elizabeth Hora, an archaeologist at the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, presents a GIS-based analysis on known archaeological sites around Moab and beyond to explore the construction of public and private spaces. She identifies certain types of archaeological sites created and used by prehistoric Fremont people that may signify private and publicly “owned” spaces and uses maps generated from these areas to recast seemingly natural canyon landscapes into social landscapes imbued with socio-economic meaning.