GIS-Based Visibility Network and Defensibility Model to Reconstruct Defensive System of the Han Dynasty in Central Xinjiang, China

The Silk Road opened during the Han Dynasty, and is significant in global cultural communication. Along this route in the central part of Xinjiang, the archaeological sites with defensive characteristics once provided a safeguard for this area. Reconstructing the defensive system is an important way to explore the ancient culture’s propagation and the organizational structure of these sites. In this research, the compound visibility network with complex network analysis (CNA) and the least-cost paths based on the defensibility models from linear and logistic regression methods constitute the principle defensive structure. As possible transportation corridors, these paths are considered to be mostly fitted to each other in general, and are different from normal slope-based paths. The sites Kuhne Shahr and Agra play important roles for information control according to the CNA measures, while the sites Kuhne Shahr and Kuyux Shahr are considered to be crucial cities due to their positions and structural shapes. Some other sites, including Uzgen Bulak, Shah Kalandar, Chuck Castle, Caladar, and Qiuci, as well as some beacons, have important effects on defending the transportation corridors. This method is proven efficient for the study of the historical role of archaeological sites with defensive characteristics