Geospatial Data from the “Building a Model to Reconstruct the Hellenistic and Roman Road Networks of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, a Semi-Empirical Approach Based on Modern Travelers’ Itineraries” Paper

Abstract

The dataset contains the spatial data needed to build the network of least cost camel paths between archaeological sites and watering places in the Egyptian Eastern Desert during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It includes the sites to be linked, the travel factors (topography, navigation and terrain surface), the modern traveler routes used for training and model validation, and the outputs. Data processing models, made on ArcGIS 10.5, are available. Data and analyses for model calibration and validation to assess its quality are also provided. The objective of this dataset is to be able to reproduce the network created in the Egyptian Eastern Desert and facilitate the application of the approach to other study areas. Although the input data is based on the Egyptian Eastern Desert, the method is nevertheless reproducible using the data processing models developed. Paper linked with the data: Manière, L., Crépy, M., Redon, B. (2021) Building a Model to reconstruct the Hellenistic and Roman Road Networks of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, a Semi-Empirical Approach Based on Modern Travelers’ Itineraries. Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology. In review.

Keywords

• least cost path
• network
• archaeology
• itinerary
• travel
• egypt
• eastern desert
• roman period
• ptolemaic period
• camel
• gis