Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Importance of Energetics in Archaeological Least Cost Analysis

  • Published:
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Least cost analysis (LCA) has emerged as a favored geospatial method used by archaeologists to model potential pathways of movement. To produce increasingly effective least cost models, we must more thoroughly consider the role that energetics have played throughout human history and understand how physiological conditions tied to energetics, such as fatigue, influence peoples’ decisions when moving. We illustrate this need by modeling a physically demanding case study from the American Southwest and demonstrate that the interpretive consequences of using time- versus energy-based cost function can have meaningful impacts on archaeological reconstructions of the past. Therefore, to better inform the selection of least cost functions in LCA, regardless of the material record in a specific study context, we present a theoretically informed strategy for classifying whether time or energy was a more pertinent cost to past movers by focusing on the role of fatigue and its influence on energetically efficient decision making.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. All analyses and most of the data necessary to replicate the research in this submission are included at “https://github.com/sfield2/Energetics-in-Least-Cost-Analysis.” However, due to the sensitive nature of certain data, not all of the data necessary to fully replicate our analyses are accessible at the above GitHub repository. 

References

  • Bar-Yosef, O., & Belfer-Cohen, L. (1989). The origins of sedentism and farming communities in the Levant. Journal of World Prehistory, 3(4), 447–498. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00975111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Betancourt, J. T., Martin, P. S., & Van Devender, T. R. (1986). Fossil packrat middens from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico: Cultural and ecological significance. In S. G. Wells, D. W. Love, & T. W. Gardner (Eds.), Chaco Canyon Country: A field guide to the geomorphology, Quaternary geology, Paleoecology, and Environmental Geology of Northwestern New Mexico (pp. 207–217). American Geomorphological Field Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billat, V., Renoux, J.C., Pinoteau, J., Petit, B., & Koralsztein, J. P. (1994). Reproducibility of running time to exhaustion of VO2max in subelite runners. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 254–259.

  • Bramble, D. M., & Lieberman, D. E. (2004). Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature, 432, 345–352. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03052

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branting, S. (2012). Seven solutions for seven problems with least cost pathways. In D. A. White & S. L. Surface-Evans (Eds.), Least cost analysis of social landscapes: Archaeological case studies (pp. 209–224). The University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrd, B. F., Garrard, A. N., & Bandy, P. (2016). Modeling foraging ranges and spatial organization of Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers in the southern Levant – A least-cost GIS approach. Quaternary International, 396, 62–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.07.048

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, M. J., Dennison, P. E., Butler, P. W., & Page, W. G. (2019). Using crowdsourced fitness tracker data to model the relationship between slope and travel rates. Applied Geography, 106, 93–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2019.03.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrier, D. R., Kapoor, A. K., Kimura, T., Nickels, M. K., Satwanti, Scott, E. C., So, J. K., & Trinkaus, E. (1984). The energetic paradox of human running and hominid evolution. Current Anthropology, 25(4), 483–495. https://doi.org/10.1086/203165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Contreras, D. A. (2011). How far to Conchucos? A GIS approach to assessing the implications of exotic materials at Chavin de Huantar. World Archaeology, 43(3), 380–397. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2011.605841

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crown, P. L., & Wills, W. H. (2018). “The complex history of Pueblo Bonito and its interpretation.” Antiquity, 92(364), 890–904. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dean, J. S., and Warren, R.L. (1983). Dendrochronology. In S.H. Lekson (Ed), The architecture and dendrochronology of Chetro Ketl, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (pp. 105–240). Reports of the Chaco Center No. 6. Division of Cultural Research, National Park Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

  • AP Demarle JJ Slawinski LP Laffite VG Bocquet JP Koralsztein VL Billat 2001 Journal of Applied Physiology 90 947 953 https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.2001.90.3.947

  • English, N. B., Betancourt, J. L., Dean, J. S., & Quade, J. (2001). Strontium isotopes reveal distant sources of architectural timber in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(21), 11891–11896. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.211305498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erlenbusch, M., Haub, M., Munoz, K., MacConnie, S., & Stillwell, B. (2005). Effect of high-fat or high-carbohydrate diets on endurance exercise: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 15, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.15.1.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enoka, R. M., & Duchateau, J. (2016). Translating fatigue to human performance. Medical Science Spots Exercise., 48(11), 2228–2238. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Field, S., Heitman, C., & Richards-Risseto, H. (2019). A least cost analysis: Correlative modeling of the Chaco Regional Road System. Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2(1), 136–150. https://doi.org/10.5334/jcaa.36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez, M. C., Hidalgo, C. A., & Barabasi, A.-L. (2008). Understanding individual human mobility patterns. Nature, 453, 779–782. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06958

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gravel-Miguel, C., & Wren, C. D. (2018). Agent-based least-cost path analysis and the diffusion of Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian engraved scapulae. Journal of Archaeological Science, 99, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06958

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, T. M., Roberts, T. J., & Kram, R. (2003). Metabolic cost of generating muscular force in human walking: Insights from load-carrying and speed experiments. Journal of Applied Physiology, 95(1), 172–183. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00944.2002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Güimil-Fariña, A., & Parcero-Oubiña, C. (2015). “Dotting the joins”: A non-reconstructive use of Least Cost Paths to approach ancient roads. The case of the Roman roads in the NW Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Archaeological Science., 54, 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.11.030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guiterman, C. H., Swetnam, T. W., & Dean, J. S. (2016). Eleventh-century shift in timber procurement areas for the Great Houses of Chaco Canyon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, 1186–1190. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1514272112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gustas, R., & Supernant, K. (2017). Least cost path analysis of early maritime movement on the Pacific Northwest Coast. Journal of Archaeological Science., 78, 40–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2016.11.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hare, B. (2017). Survival of the friendliest: Homo sapiens evolved via selection for prosociality. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 155–186. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heitman, C. C., Van Dyke, R. M., Peebles, M. and Bocinsky, K. (2016). Greater Chaco Landscapes Great House Communities GIS Integration Dataset. GIS dataset submitted to the National Park Service in partial fulfillment of Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit Task Agreement. Number: P14AC01703, Project #: UCOB-109.

  • Herzog, I. (2010). Theory and practice of cost functions. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Granada, Spain.

  • Herzog, I. (2014). A review of case studies in archaeological least-cost analysis. Archaeologia e Calcolatori, 25, 223–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, K., & Kaplan, H. (1999). Life history traits in humans: Theory and empirical studies. Annual Review of Anthropology., 28(1), 397–430. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.18.1.397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hills, A., Mokhtar, N., & Byrne, N. M. (2016). Assessment of physical activity and energy expenditure: An overview of objective measures. Frontiers in Nutrition., 5, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2014.00005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hitchner, R. B. (2012). Roads, integration, connectivity, and economic performance in the roman empire (Vol. 5). John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoeksema van Orden, C. Y. D., & Buunk, P. B. (1998). Social loafing under fatigue. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(5), 1179. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.75.5.1179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holding, D. H., Loeb, M., & Baker, M. A. (1983). Effects and aftereffects of continuous noise and computation work on risk and effort choices. Motivation and Emotion, 7(4), 331–344. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00991643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howey, M. C. L. (2011). Multiple pathways across past landscapes: Circuit theory as complementary geospatial method to least cost path for modeling past movement. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38, 2523–2535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.03.024

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howey, M. C. L., & Burg, M. B. (2017). Assessing the state of archaeological GIS research: Unbinding analyses of past landscapes. Journal of Archaeological Science, 84, 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, S. K. (2016). The relevance of sex differences in performance fatigability. Medical Science and Sports Exercise, 48(11), 2247–2256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.05.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, S. K. (2018). Performance fatigability: Mechanisms and task specificity. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 8, a029728. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a029728

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iodice, P., Calluso, C., Barca, L., Bertollo, M., Ripari, P., & Pezzulo, G. (2017). Fatigue increases the perception of future effort during decision making. Psychology of Sport and Exercise., 33, 150–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.08.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irmischer, I. J., & Clarke, K. C. (2018). Measuring and modeling the speed of human navigation. Cartography and Geographic Information Science., 45(2), 177–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230406.2017.1292150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, A. M. (1998). A five year physiological case study of an Olympic runner. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 32(1), 39–43. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.32.1.39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judd, N. M. (1925). Everyday life in Pueblo Bonito. National Geographic Magazine, 48(3), 227–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Justice, J. N., Mani, D., Pierpoint, L. A., & Enoka, R. M. (2014). Fatigability of the dorsiflexors and associations among multiple domains of motor function in young and old adults. Experimental Gerontology, 55, 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2014.03.018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kantner, J. (1997). Ancient roads, modern mapping: Evaluating Chaco Anasazi roadways using GIS Technology. Expedition, 39(3), 49–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kantner, J. (2012). Realism, reality, and routes: Evaluating cost-surface and cost-path algorithms. In D. A. White & S. Surface-Evans (Eds.), Least cost analysis of social landscapes: Archaeological case studies (pp. 225–238). University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, R. L. (1983). Hunter-gatherer mobility strategies. Journal of Anthropological Research, 39(3), 277–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, R. L. (1992). Mobility/sedentism: Concepts, archaeological measures, and effects. Annual Review of Anthropology., 21, 43–66. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.21.100192.000355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, N. L., & Brunn, S. E. (1983). Dispensability of member effort and group motivation losses: Free-rider effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 78–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, N. L., & Tindale, R. S. (2004). Group performance and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 623–655. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.44.090902.142009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • I Kim E Hacker CE Ferrans C Horswill C Park M Kapella 2018 Evaluation of fatigability measurement: Integrative review Geriatric Nursing. 39–47 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2017.05.014

  • Kincaid, C., Stein, J.R., & Levine, D.F. (1983) Road verification summary. In C. Kincaid (Ed.), Chaco Roads Project, Phase 1: A Reappraisal of Prehispanic Roads in the San Juan Basin. Albuquerque and Santa Fe, NM: United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

  • Kosiba, S., & Bauer, A. M. (2013). Mapping the political landscape: Toward a GIS analysis of environmental and social difference. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 20, 61–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-011-9126-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kosiba, S., & Hunter, R. A. (2017). Fields of conflict: A political ecology approach to land and social transformation in the colonial Andes (Cuzco, Peru). Journal of Archaeological Science, 84, 40–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.06.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, S. L., Raichlen, D. A., & Clark, A. E. (2016). What moves us? How mobility and movement are at the center of human evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology, 25, 86–97. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lekson, S. (2006). The archaeology of Chaco Canyon: An eleventh-century Pueblo Regional Center. School for Advanced Research Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lekson, S. (1984). Great Pueblo architecture of Chaco Canyon. In Leone, M (Ed.), Publications in Archaeology 18B, Chaco Canyon Studies. Santa Fe, NM: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.

  • Leonard, W. R., & Robertson, M. L. (1992). Nutritional-requirements and human-evolution: A bioenergetics model. American Journal of Human Biology, 4, 179–195. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.1310040204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepers, R., Maffiuletti, N. A., Rochetter, L., Brugniaux, J., & Millet, G. Y. (2001). Neuromuscular fatigue during a long-duration cycling exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology, 92, 1487–1494. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00880.2001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LePine, J. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Ilgen, J. R., & Hedlund, J. (2007). Effects of individual differences on the performance of hierarchical decision-making teams: Much more than g. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(5), 803–811. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.5.803

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, J. (2021). leastcostpath: Modelling pathways and movement potential within a landscape (version 1.8.2). Available at: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/leastcostpath/index.html

  • Li, N., Zhao, H. H., Walter, S. L., Zhang, X.-A., & Yu, J. (2015). Achieving more with less: Extra Milers’ behavioral influences in teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(4), 1025–1039. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima-Silva, A. E., De-Oliveira, F. R., Nakamura, F. Y., & Gevaerd, M. S. (2009). Effect of carbohydrate availability on time to exhaustion in exercise performed at two different intensities. Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, 42, 404–412. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0100-879x2009000500002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livingood, P. (2012). No crows made mounds: Do cost-distance calculations of travel time improve our understanding of southern Appalachian polity size? In D. A. White & S. Surface-Evans (Eds.), Least cost analysis of social landscapes: Archaeological case studies (pp. 174–187). University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Llobera, M., & Sluckin, T. J. (2007). Zigzagging: Theoretical insights on climbing strategies. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 249, 206–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.07.020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Llobera, M., Fábrega-Álvarez, P., & Parcero-Oubiña, C. (2011). Order in movement: A GIS approach to accessibility. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(4), 843–851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.11.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lock, G., Kormann, M., & Pouncett, J. (2014). Visibility and movement: Towards a GIS-based integrated approach. In S. Polla & P. Verhagen (Eds.), Computational approaches to the study of movement in archaeology (Vol. 23, pp. 23–42). De Gruyter. TOPOI. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marino, F. E., Kay, D., & Serwach, N. (2004). Exercise time to fatigue and the critical limiting temperature: Effect of hydration. Journal of Thermal Biology, 29, 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2003.08.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McRae, B. H. (2006). Isolation by resistance. Evolution, 60, 1551–15561.

    Google Scholar 

  • McRae, B. H., Dickson, B. G., Keitt, T. H., & Shah, V. B. (2008). Using circuit theory to model connectivity in ecology, evolution, and conservation. Ecology, 80(10), 2712–2724. https://doi.org/10.1890/07-1861.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMahon, N. F., Leveritt, M. D., & Pavey, T. G. (2017). The effect of dietary nitrate supplementation on endurance exercise performance in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 47, 735–756. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0617-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minetti, A. E., Moia, C., Roi, G. S., Susta, D., & Ferretti, G. (2002). Energy cost of walking and running at extreme uphill and downhill slopes. Journal of Applied Physiology., 93, 1039–1046. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.01177.2001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melis, A. P., & Semmann, D. (2010). How is human cooperation different? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society b: Biological Sciences, 365(1553), 2663–2674. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nathan, R., Getz, W. M., Revilla, E., Holyoak, M., Kadmon, R., Saltz, D., & Smouse, P. E. (2008). A movement ecology paradigm for unifying organismal movement research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 105(49), 19052–19059. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800375105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ocobock, C. (2020). Human energy expenditure in anthropology and beyond. American Anthropologist, 122(2), 236–249. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ocobock, C. (2016). Human energy expenditure, allocation, and interactions in natural temperate, hot, and cold environments. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 161, 667–675. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23071

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ocobock, C., Overbeck, A., Carlson, C., Royer, C., Mervenne, A., Thurber, C., Dugas, L. R., Carlson, B., & Pontzer, H. (2019). Sustained high levels of physical activity lead to improved performance among “Race Across the USA” athletes. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 168(4), 789–794. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23781

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pacheco-Cobos, L., Rosetti, M., Cuatianquiz, C., & Hudson, R. (2009). Sex differences in mushroom gathering: Men expend more energy to obtain equivalent benefits. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 289–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.12.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pandolf, K. B., Givoni, B., & Goldman, R. F. (1977). Predicting energy expenditure with loads while standing or walking very slowly. Journal of Applied Physiology, 43, 577–581. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1977.43.4.577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitsiladis, Y. P., & Maughan, R. J. (1999). The effects of exercise and diet manipulation on the capacity to perform prolonged exercise in the heat and in the cold in trained humans. Journal of Physiology, 517(3), 919–930. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7793.1999.0919s.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poehlman, E. T., Denino, W. F., Beckett, T., Kinaman, K. A., Dionne, I. J., Dvorak, R., & Ades, P. A. (2002). Effects of endurance and resistance training on total daily energy expenditure in young women: A controlled randomized trial. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 87(3), 1004–1009. https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem.87.3.8282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pontzer, H. (2012). Ecological energetics in early Homo. Current Anthropology, 53(S6), S346–S358. https://doi.org/10.1086/667402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pontzer, H. (2015). Constrained total energy expenditure and the evolutionary biology of energy balance. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 43(3), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1249/JES.0000000000000048

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potter, A., & Brooks, K. (2013). Comparative analysis of metabolic cost equations: A review. Journal of Sport and Human Performance 1(3), 34–42. https://doi.org/10.12922/9

  • Raichlen, D. A., Wood, B. M., Gordon, A. D., Mabulla, A. Z. P., Marlowe, F. W., & Pontzer, H. (2013). Evidence of Levy walk foraging patterns in human hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 11(2), 728–733. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1318616111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • RamezanPour, M. R., Moghaddam, A., & Sadifar, E. (2011). Comparison [of] the effects of listening to three types of music during exercise on heart rate, blood pressure, rating of perceived exertion and fatigue onset time. Iranian Journal of Health and Physical Activity, 3(1), 15–20. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, E. K. (1962). Human skeletal material from Site 59, Chaco Canyon National Monument. El. Palacio, 69(4), 240–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reese, K. M., Glowacki, D. M., & Kohler, T. (2019). Dynamic communities on the Mesa Verde Cuesta. American Antiquity, 84(4), 728–746. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2019.74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rissetto, J. D. (2012). Using least cost path analysis to reinterpret later Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer procurement zones in Northern Spain. In D. A. White & S. Surface-Evans (Eds.), Least cost analysis of social landscapes: Archaeological case studies (pp. 11–31). University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roney, J. R. (1992). Prehispanic roads and regional integration in the Chacoan System. In: Doyel, DE (ed.), Anasazi regional organization and the chaco system, 123–31. Albuquerque, NM: Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.

  • Safi, K. N. (2014). Using least cost pathways to understand the processes of migration from the Mesa Verde Region during the Pueblo III Period. Kiva, 80(1), 28–44. https://doi.org/10.1179/002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahlin, K. (1992). Metabolic factors in fatigue. Sports Medicine, 13(2), 99–107. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-199213020-00005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahlin, K., Tonkonogi, M., & Soderlund, K. (1998). Energy supply and muscle fatigue in humans. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 162(3), 261–266. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-201X.1998.0298f.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santee, W. R., Allison, W. F., Blanchard, L. A., & Small, M. G. (2001). A proposed model for load carriage on sloped terrain. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 72(6), 562–566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schabort, E. J., Bosch, A. N., Weltan, S. N., & Noakes, T. D. (1999). The effect of a preexercise meal on time to fatigue during prolonged cycling exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 31(3), 464–471. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005768-199903000-00017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schulz-Hardt, S., & Bordbeck, F. C. (2012). Group performance and leadership. In M. Hewstone, M. W. Stoebe, & K. Jonas (Eds.), An introduction to social psychology (pp. 415–448). Glasgow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seifried, R. M., & Gardner, C. A. M. (2019). Reconstructing historical journeys with least-cost analysis: Colonel William Leake in the Mani Peninsula, Greece. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 24, 391–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shingledecker, C. A., & Holding, D. H. (1974). Risk and effort measures. Journal of Motor Behavior, 6(1), 17–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222895.1974.10734975

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snead, J. (2009). Trails of tradition: Movement, meaning, and place. In J. E. Snead, C. L. Erickson & J. A. Darling landscapes of movement: Trails, paths, and roads in anthropological perspective, (pp. 42–60). University of Pennsylvania Press.

  • Snead, J., Erickson, C. L., & Darling, A. (2009). Making human space: The archaeology of trails, paths, and roads. In J. E. Snead, C. L. Erickson & J. A. Darling landscapes of movement: Trails, paths, and roads in anthropological perspective, (pp. 1–19). University of Pennsylvania Press.

  • Snygg, J., & Windes, T. C. (1998). Long, wide roads and great kiva roofs. Kiva, 64, 7–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song, C., Qu, Z., Blumm, N., & Barabasi, A.-L. (2010). Limits of predictability in human mobility. Science, 327, 1018–1021. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1177170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soule, R. G., & Goldman, R. F. (1972). Terrain coefficients for energy cost prediction. Journal of Applied Physiology., 32(5), 706–708. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1972.32.5.706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Supernant, K. (2017). Modeling Metis mobility? Evaluating least cost paths and indigenous landscapes in the Canadian west. Journal of Archaeological Science, 84, 63–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tobler, W. (1993). Three presentations on geographical analysis and modeling. Santa Barbara, CA: National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis.

  • Upham, S. (1984). Adaptive diversity and southwestern abandonment. Journal of Anthropological Research, 40(2), 235–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dyke, R. M., Bocinsky, R. K., Windes, T. C., & Robinson, T. J. (2016). Great houses, shrines, and high places: Intervisibility in the Chacoan world. American Antiquity., 81(2), 205–230. https://doi.org/10.7183/0002-7316.81.2.205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Etten, J. (2017). R package gdistance: Distances and routes on geographical grids. Journal of Statistical Software, 76(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v076.i13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Etten, L. M., Klass, L. A., Westerterp, R., Verstappen, F. R. J., Boon, G. J. B., & Saris, W. H. S. (1997). Effect of an 18-wk weight-training program on energy expenditure and physical activity. Journal of Applied Physiology, 82(1), 298–304. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1997.82.1.298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varien, M. (1999). Sedentism and mobility in a social landscape. University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verbrugghe, G., Clercq W. D., & Van Eetvelde, V. (2017). Routes across the Civitas Menapiorum: Using least cost paths and GIS to locate the Roman roads of Sandy Flanders. Journal of Historical Geography 57:76–88. http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8522510

  • Verhagen, P. and Jeneson, K. (2012). A Roman puzzle. Trying to find the via Belgica with GIS. In A. Chrysanthi, P. Murrieta-Flores, & C. Papadopoulos (Eds.), Thinking beyond the tool: archaeological computing & the interpretive process, (pp. 123–130). Oxford: Archaeopress.

  • Verhagen, P., Nuninger, L., & Groenhuijzen, M. R. (2019). Modelling of pathways and movement networks in archaeology: An overview of current approaches. In P. Verhagen, J. Joyce, & M. Groenhuijzen (Eds.), Finding the limits of the lines: Modelling demography, economy and transport on the edge of the Roman Empire (pp. 217–249). Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Vestergaard, S., Nayfield, S. G., Patel, K. V., Eldadah, B., Cesari, M., Ferrucci, L., Cersini, G., & Guralnik, J. M. (2009). Fatigue in a representative population of older persons and its association with functional impairment, functional limitation, and disability. Journals of Gerontology Series a: Biomedical Sciences and Medical Sciences, 64(1), 76–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/gln017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westerterp, K. R. (2009). Assessment of physical activity: A critical appraisal. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 105, 823–828. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-009-1000-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westerterp, K. R., Meijer, G. A. L., Janssen, E. M. E., Saris, W. H. M., & Ten Hoor, F. (1992). Long-term effect of physical activity on energy balance and body composition. British Journal of Nutrition., 68, 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1079/bjn19920063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, D. A. (2012). Prehistoric trail networks of the Western Papagueria: A multifaceted least cost graph theory analysis. In D. A. White & S. Surface-Evans (Eds.), Least cost analysis of social landscapes: Archaeological case studies (pp. 188–208). University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, D. A. (2015). The basics of least cost analysis for archaeological applications. Advances in Archaeological Practice, 3(4), 407–414. https://doi.org/10.7183/2326-3768.3.4.407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, D. A., & Barber, S. B. (2012). Geospatial modeling of pedestrian transportation networks: A case study from pre-Columbian Oaxaca. Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science, 39(8), 2684–2696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wills, W. H. (2000). Ritual and mound formation during the Bonito phase in Chaco Canyon. American Antiquity, 66, 433–451. https://doi.org/10.2307/2694243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wills, W. H., Drake, B. L., & Dorshow, W. B. (2014). Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(32), 11584–11591. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409646111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilshusen, R. H., & Van Dyke, R. M. (2006). Chaco’s beginnings. In S. Lekson (Ed.), The archaeology of Chaco Canyon: An eleventh century Pueblo regional center (pp. 211–260). School of American Research Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Windes, T. C., & Ford, D. (1996). The Chaco Wood Project: The chronometric reappraisal of Pueblo Bonito. American Antiquity, 61, 295–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Windes, T. C., & McKenna, P. (2001). Going against the grain: Wood production in Chacoan society. American Antiquity, 66, 119–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Windes, T. C., & Van West, C. R. (2021). Landscapes, horticulture, and the early Chacoan Bonito phase. In R. M. Van Dyke & C. C. Heitman (Eds.), The Greater Chaco Landscape (pp. 41–92). University Press of Colorado.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, B. M. and Wood, Z. J. (2006). Energetically optimal travel across terrain: Visualizations and a new metric of geographic distance with archaeological applications. In Visualization and data analysis 2006 (Vol. 6060, p. 60600F). International Society for Optics and Photonics.

  • Zipf, G. (1949). Human behavior and the principle of least effort: An introduction to human ecology. MA Addison-Wesley Press Inc.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous reviewers who have engaged with this research over its various forms for their careful reading, thoughtful engagement, and insightful comments, which has helped clarify and improve this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

    Sean Field, Donna M. Glowacki & Lee T. Gettler

Authors
  1. Sean Field
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Donna M. Glowacki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lee T. Gettler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sean Field.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Field, S., Glowacki, D.M. & Gettler, L.T. The Importance of Energetics in Archaeological Least Cost Analysis. J Archaeol Method Theory 30, 363–396 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-022-09564-8

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-022-09564-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation