Papers by Jordan Schaefer
PhD Dissertation, 2024
Traditional methods for analyzing rock art locations within caves tend to rely on two-dimensional... more Traditional methods for analyzing rock art locations within caves tend to rely on two-dimensional (2D) mapping methods. While useful, these techniques do not effectively capture the phenomenology, or experiential characteristics, of caves as physical spaces. This dissertation therefore adopts a three-dimensional perspective to study the distribution of rock art inside 12th Unnamed Cave, a dark-zone cave art site in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau region, with the goal of identifying why certain types of images appear in their respective contexts. Photogrammetry is used to produce a three-dimensional (3D) model of the cave’s interior, on which surveyed rock art locations are georeferenced for spatial analysis. Tools available through 3D GIS applications are then applied to the 3D model to measure the volume of different chambers and conduct line-of-sight analysis on the cave’s rock art. Additionally, archaeoacoustic data is integrated into the 3D model to identify possible relationships between rock art locations and the ambient and acoustic sound properties throughout the cave. Findings indicate that the locations of 12th Unnamed Cave’s rock art are by no means random, but likely based on the artists’ experiences of different spaces and possibly tied to cosmological models of world renewal and rebirth.
Historical Archaeology, 2023
Recent studies have demonstrated that a significant number of cultural-heritage resources will so... more Recent studies have demonstrated that a significant number of cultural-heritage resources will soon be affected by rising sea levels and climatic disasters. However, efforts to model the impacts of climate change provide limited, if any, considerations of structural inequality that affects resource detection and communities in the past. This article explores the relationship among legacies of historical marginalization, cultural-heritage resources, and archaeological practice in the context of climate-change discourse. The effects of this erasure are not limited to the past, but have significant and lasting implications for descendant communities in the present.
Southeastern Archaeology, 2022
This paper examines the spatial distribution of rock art sites in the eastern Arkansas Ozarks in ... more This paper examines the spatial distribution of rock art sites in the eastern Arkansas Ozarks in order to identify the types of environments that were preferred by those who made the art. With few exceptions, Ozark rock art tends to appear inside of bluff shelters. Statistical hypothesis testing is therefore used to compare the spatial distribution of rock art sites with that of bluff shelters lacking any rock art, thus revealing which types of settings were specifically preferred for creating rock art. Results indicate that rock art site locations were carefully selected based on desired characteristics, which generally include southern- to southeastern-facing aspects, distance from streams and rivers, and occasionally large viewsheds. These patterns are consistent with ethnohistorical accounts of the Caddo and Osage and suggest that cosmology played an important role in selecting locations for rock art creation.
A comparison of rock art and bluff shelter spatial distributions in the eastern Arkansas Ozarks
Southeastern Archaeology, Jan 21, 2022
ABSTRACT This paper examines the spatial distribution of rock art sites in the eastern Arkansas O... more ABSTRACT This paper examines the spatial distribution of rock art sites in the eastern Arkansas Ozarks in order to identify the types of environments that were preferred by those who made the art. With few exceptions, Ozark rock art tends to appear inside of bluff shelters. Statistical hypothesis testing is therefore used to compare the spatial distribution of rock art sites with that of bluff shelters lacking any rock art, thus revealing which types of settings were specifically preferred for creating rock art. Results indicate that rock art site locations were carefully selected based on desired characteristics, which generally include southern- to southeastern-facing aspects, distance from streams and rivers, and occasionally large viewsheds. These patterns are consistent with ethnohistorical accounts of the Caddo and Osage and suggest that cosmology played an important role in selecting locations for rock art creation.
Master's Thesis, 2018
This thesis uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to spatially analyze rock art distributions... more This thesis uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to spatially analyze rock art distributions in the Salem Plateau section of the Arkansas Ozarks. Statistical tests, such as chisquare and t-testing, are applied to provide an objective view of rock art patterning in relation to the overall landscape. The data collected from these methods allow one to discern the locational preferences for rock art, which potentially reveal cultural details about the people involved with its creation. Multiple analytical perspectives are applied throughout, initially focusing on comparisons with expected values and random points. Later statistical tests use bluff shelter distributions as reference data for understanding rock art location selection. The final analysis compares motif distributions with each other to see whether certain designs tend to appear in different contexts than others. Results suggest that bluff shelter distributions serve as better comparative data, as they reveal which envi...
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Papers by Jordan Schaefer