John F. Chamblee, Ph.D.

Database & Cartographic Design Portfolio

Mixteca Alta Survey

In 1999, I participated in the Central Mixteca Alta Settlement Pattern Project, a 1600 square kilometer pedestrian archaeological survey in Oaxaca, Mexico.

In addition to conducting fieldwork, I developed the database and GIS systems for managing all project data. The original databases were built using Microsoft Access 97 and ArcView 3.2. They included reporting capabilities that allowed us to verify data entry and produce over 700 site register forms and field reports for the Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Historia -- all before leaving the field.

In 2000, I wrote my M.A. thesis on the Classic period (A.D. 200 - 1000) and Postclassic period (A.D. 1000 - 1500)  settlement patterns for the project area. This analysis took several weeks and ultimately led me to upgrade the database design. In 2006, I used the upgraded system to produce a similar analysis to that in my M.A. work, but this time in only two days. In addition, I later used the new system to produce over 120 tables and more than 100 local and 10 regional settlement pattern maps for the project's summary volume.