Structuring archaeological evidence. The Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic and related information systems

0474572 - ARÚ 2017 RIV CZ eng M - Monography Chapter
Dreslerová, Dagmar - Demján, Peter
Application of AMCR data in the study of prehistoric settlement patterns.
Structuring archaeological evidence. The Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic and related information systems. Prague: Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, v. v. i., 2015 - (Kuna, M.), s. 141-161. ISBN 978-80-87365-88-5
R&D Projects: GA MK(CZ) DF12P01OVV003
Keywords : prehistory * settlement patterns * population dynamics * statistics
Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

The study aims to understand the mechanisms of settlement and land use in prehistory. In the first part, the dynamics of settlement is examined with the help of a probabilistic model based on the evidence density estimation (EDE) function. Settlement structure is modelled on the basis of archaeological evidence taken from the Archaeological Map of the CR (AMCR). The resulting three-dimensional probability distribution maps represent the presence or absence of settlement at any given point in time and space. The model shows that fluctuation is a typical feature of prehistoric settlement. Stable and continuously densely-settled areas occur only in optimal places in the so called core areas of central and northwest Bohemia. In the second part of the study we examine the extent to which the changing settlement behaviour may have been influenced by environmental factors. A large amount of data from the AMCR is compared with the selected environmental variables. The results show that only some changes in settlement structure can be explained by environmental forces. For example, the contraction of settlement into the driest and most fertile parts of the country in the time of marked climate change can be observed in the middle of the 4th millennium BC. At the end of the Early Bronze Age, the relationship between settlement and the environment weakens, perhaps as the result of stronger adaptation mechanisms and changing settlement preferences (the growing importance of access to raw materials, for example) in later prehistoric periods.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0271600