Connecting Data. GIS and the Human History of the Oukaïmeden Valley

Abstract

Geographic Information Systems have become recently a methodological device to analyze the social configuration of historical landscapes. This paper deals with mobility and visibility as basic agents of the landscape organization, which is in turn, one of the theoretical bases of ARPA’s project. Hence, the need of applying these methodological tools to achieve a deeper knowledge of that process. GIS techniques show a direct connection between rock art or tumuli and the most efficient lines of movement, the best visibility orientations or the wet areas. Following Annales’ idea of Longue Durée, this paper traces the human process of modelling the Oukaïmeden landscape, from prehistoric times to more recent, historical ones, in which the control of critical resources and of mobility played a key role.