The Manahatta Project

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eric_sanderson_pictures_new_york_before_the_city.html

Eric Sanderson is a landscape ecologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society. For the last decade, he has been busy reconstructing the landscape of Manhattan Island as it was when Henry Hudson arrived in 1609. Using a British Battle map from the eighteenth century, Sanderson was able to locate topographical features that are now hidden beneath New York City's built landscape. Once this physical map was completed (and matched to a modern map), Sanderson added a biotic layer. He constructed "Muir Webs" that connect the native species of the island by their common habitat requirements. At this point, Sanderson was able to make probability maps for any given block in Manhattan today. These maps suggest what plants and animals were likely to have inhabited a particular region, and also what particular areas were best for the Lenape to used for particular purposes. Sanderson was therefore able to test particular hypotheses that were untestable without understanding the historical ecology of the island. For instance, Sanderson used a model for wildfire (from the U.S. Forest Service) to estimate the effect of Native American fire on the landscape.

The Manahatta Project is inspiring for our own class project, since we are also reconstructing a past civilization. Sanderson's approach has convinced me that we should work on our reconstruction from the bottom up: beginning with the physical, abiotic landscape, adding in the living layer, and then superimposing the Incas' built world. I am looking into the historical ecology of the Cuzco region, and am trying to determine what would be a reasonable project for the 1.5 months I would have to complete it...