Abstract

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Archaeological Geodatabase Design for Locating 18th Century Roads through Texas
Track: Archaeology
Author(s): Jeffrey Williams

An early road segment of El Camino de los Tejas, the first road through Texas, has been used for determining the landscape variables associated with early Spanish road placement. El Camino Carretera (cart road), a segment of El Camino de los Tejas, crosses the Sabine River at the boundary between Texas and Louisiana and is the first road mentioned by the Spanish that links the easternmost Spanish missions of Nuestra Seņora de los Dolores de los Ais in eastern Texas with the mission San Miguel de los Adaes in western Louisiana. Using historical documents and maps, as well as empirical archaeological surveys, this study has located an early Spanish road and focuses on the development of a GIS geodatabase design model for managing archaeological and physical landscape data in a spatially responsive medium allowing for an integrated study of the landscape forces influencing the selection of preferred road locations.

Jeffrey Williams
Stephen F. Austin State University
Arthur Temple College of Forestry
15369 FM 1878
Nacogdoches , TX 75961
US
Phone: 936-468-1310
E-mail: jmwilliams@sfasu.edu