Analysis of feature intervisibility and cumulative visibility using GIS, Bayesian and spatial statistics: a study from the Mandara Mountains, northern Cameroon

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 10;9(11):e112191. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112191. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The locations of diy-geδ-bay (DGB) sites in the Mandara Mountains, northern Cameroon are hypothesized to occur as a function of their ability to see and be seen from points on the surrounding landscape. A series of geostatistical, two-way and Bayesian logistic regression analyses were performed to test two hypotheses related to the intervisibility of the sites to one another and their visual prominence on the landscape. We determine that the intervisibility of the sites to one another is highly statistically significant when compared to 10 stratified-random permutations of DGB sites. Bayesian logistic regression additionally demonstrates that the visibility of the sites to points on the surrounding landscape is statistically significant. The location of sites appears to have also been selected on the basis of lower slope than random permutations of sites. Using statistical measures, many of which are not commonly employed in archaeological research, to evaluate aspects of visibility on the landscape, we conclude that the placement of DGB sites improved their conspicuousness for enhanced ritual, social cooperation and/or competition purposes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Archaeology*
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Cameroon
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Logistic Models
  • Spatial Analysis*

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.1204727

Grants and funding

This work was supported by an international faculty research grant from Seoul National University, the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration (grant # 9494-13), and the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant #2013S1A5B6043901 funded by the Korean government. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.