Perception, ideology and time: a GIS approach in Tagus River basin (Spain)

Abstract

During the last years, we have developed an intense fieldwork in the surroundings of one of the ancient fords of Tagus River (Cáceres province, Spain), where different antiquarians documented near a dozen megalithic barrows by the end of the 19th century. A critical issue for the archaeological analysis is that the area was flooded by a reservoir in 1970, disallowing us to get a detailed comprehension of the landscape. A research strategy was designed to face the study of the river ford, that consisted in the excavation of several monu- ments, the systematic surface survey of adjacent areas and also the reconstruction of the original topography through digital photogrammetry and GIS applied to historic imagery. This information has provided a new picture of the ne- cropolis, revealing temporal and architectonical variance, different degrees of aggrupation and links to habitat, which contributes to state the variety within the structure of megalithic landscapes in a regional context. In this communication we focus on the perception of the barrows through spatial analysis. By using fuzzy logic, we have checked how monuments might be perceived/visible in different scales. The persistence of the monuments organised the landscape through generations, propagating an ideological discourse, which is discussed here.