Least-cost pathway analysis and inter-regional interaction in the Göksu valley, Turkey

Abstract

Abstract Recent work in the Göksu river valley has brought questions of long-distance communication routes to the forefront of discussion. The valley has been long regarded as a potential conduit from the Anatolian plateau to the Mediterranean, yet no formal testing as to whether it was geographically suited to this use has taken place. The discovery of the site of Çömlek Tepesi in the upper Göksu valley and work at Kilse Tepe south of Mut has given further weight to the idea that the valley served as a communication route at points in time, and has encouraged testing the notion that a route through the valley would be attractive based on geography. Computerised modelling using least-cost pathway analysis (LCPA) was used to test whether the Göksu valley could serve as a communication route, and if so, the approximate location of that route based upon geographical constraints. In this paper, the methods of LCPA are reviewed and an example of its use is presented. Advocated as an exploratory rather than explanatory technique, the application of LCPA in the Göksu valley has strengthened current assumptions about regional and extra-regional interaction and raised new questions that refined the project's research design.

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