How is visibility important for defence? A GIS analysis of sites in the western Fijian Islands

Abstract

The analysis of defensive or fortified archaeological sites in the Pacific has a long history, with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approaches applied with increasing frequency. Much of the recent GIS-based research has emphasized views to and from defensive sites and site location relative to resources such as agricultural land. We add to this growing body of research with analyses of defensive sites in the western islands of Fiji. Our work is the first quantitative GIS analysis of visibility in the Pacific and examines views to and from sites and the content of those views with statistical comparisons to random background samples. Our results indicate that views of high fertility land were an important consideration in the placement of some defensive sites, but that views of other defensive sites were not important. Additionally, some sites are deliberately placed in areas to obscure their visibility.