Theoretical developments are needed to interpret the increasing amount of large-scale spatial dat... more Theoretical developments are needed to interpret the increasing amount of large-scale spatial data about past settlements. So far, settlement patterns have mostly been considered as passive imprints of past human activities and most theories are limited to ecological processes. Locational and spatial interactions have scarcely been included as long-term driving forces of settlement systems but hold promise to explain large-scale patterns. This paper proposes a conceptual model for long-term spatial adaptive settlement systems based on the complex adaptive systems framework and both spatial and cross-scale interactions. The goal of the model is to find new ways of interpreting archaeological location data and understand settlement systems as emerging from microchoices of population units interacting in space. The conceptualisation is carried out on a level that it can be used to bridge hunter-gatherer and urban theories. We first describe settlement patterns based on concepts from archaeological locational studies and socialecological systems. Second, we identify the abstract spatial and aspatial entities of the system and describe the potential relations between them. Using knowledge from previous research, we then map both empirically observable and abstract system entities and predict links between them in order to come up with an overarching conceptual framework. The system is based on residential choice mechanisms and exposes several crossscale feedback loops between the micro-level choices and the settlement system emerging at the meso-level. We finally argue that the proposed adaptive settlement system framework has the potential to bring new insights into long-term processes, especially through dynamic spatial simulation, and at the same time, provides an interpretational framework for archaeological records and empirical spatial analysis. Examples of its applications in archaeological research are introduced.
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2024
Our knowledge of the geography of medieval religious dissent and its repression in the Latin West... more Our knowledge of the geography of medieval religious dissent and its repression in the Latin West is limited by a lack of systematic study of locational information in inquisition trial records. Spatial analysis of these rich details has the potential to help build a bottom-up picture of interaction between dissidents and inquisitors that moves beyond institutional perspectives. This task is rendered challenging due to the inconsistencies and uncertainties of what inquisitors and their notaries typically recorded about the spatial associations of suspects. Probably the most common indicator of such associations found in inquisition records are toponymic surnames. They present challenges of coverage (not everybody had a toponymic surname) and interpretation (multiple possible meanings). This study attempts to tackle the challenge of interpreting such surnames within the context of the nine sentencing events held by the inquisitor Peter Seila in 1241 and 1242 in the Quercy region of Languedoc: covering 650 sentenced individuals, the register documenting these events is the earliest extant record of an inquisition of such scale. Rather than taking the interpretative challenges of toponymic surnames as reasons to limit ourselves to qualitative analysis, our approach shows the value of rendering and analysing them as structured data. Firstly, we quantify the context of toponymic surnames, placing them against the background of broader name construction practices and other social factors. Secondly, we plot and analyse the geocoded data derived from toponymic surnames with the benefit of this contextualisation, looking especially at the distance of toponyms from their associated sentencing centres, in order to derive narratives that best explain the generality of their meaning. The results allow us to appraise the actual spatial coverage of the nine sentencing events. The first two, centred on the important towns of Montauban and Moissac, seem most likely to have been primarily urban affairs, with little evidence of rural coverage. The remainder, which took place in castra (fortified villages), appear to have covered more of the surrounding countryside. These results geographically contextualise the reports of dissidence conveyed within Peter’s register, and suggest narratives for how Peter optimised his strategy for impact in the face of constraints.
The connection between settlement sites and water bodies has been the most prominent characterist... more The connection between settlement sites and water bodies has been the most prominent characteristic of the Stone Age settlement patterns in North-Eastern Europe. Geologist and archaeologist Constantin Grewingk stated already in 1865 that in the Eastern Baltic region “Stone Age people lived by the sea and rivers”. Although there was no empirical data at that time, the following discoveries confirmed this claim. The connection is so obvious that archaeological sites are effectively used as a proxy data for reconstructing past shorelines that have been changing due to isostatic land uplift and changing hydrological conditions. The goal of current paper is to give a statistical description of the settlements’ position relative to the shoreline. The case study is based on the Stone Age settlement site locations in Southern Karelia, Finland. The region is characterized by several water bodies, including lake Saimaa, as well as several smaller lakes and rivers. A small amount of settlement...
The location choice of Stone Age settlements has been long considered to be influenced by environ... more The location choice of Stone Age settlements has been long considered to be influenced by environmental conditions. Proximity to water and sandy soils are most typical examples of those conditions. The notion of the influence resulted from the evidence from a relatively small amount of sites. During the recent decades the number of known settlements has increased to a level where statistical assessment of relation between environmental characteristics and settlement location choice is possible. To undertake this task we collected data about known Estonian Stone Age settlements and acquired environmental data of their locations using publicly available geological datasets. We provide univariate descriptive statistics of the distributions of variables describing site conditions and compare them to characteristics generally present in the environment. We experiment with a set of environmental variables including soil type, distance to water and a selection of geomorphometry derivatives of the digital elevation model. Quantitative assessment confirmed previous observations showing significant effect towards choice of sandy, dry location close to water bodies. The statistical analysis allowed us to assess the effect size of different characteristics. Proximity to water had the largest effect on settlement choice, while soil type was also of considerable importance. Abstract geomorphological variables Topographic Position Index and Topographic Wetness index also inform us about significant effects of surface forms. Differences of settlement locations during stages of the Stone Age are well observable. The environmental conditions of sites from the pre-pottery Mesolithic follow the general pattern but with the greatest variation. Narva and Comb Ware stage settlement locations preferences are nearly identical to each other showing preference of sandy higher areas near the shoreline and indicating increased site investment. For Corded Ware period a new settlement mode is observable which is not any more directly related to water bodies and can be explained by semi-agrarian subsistence and decreasing dependence on aquatic resources
The behavioural ecological approach to anthropology states that the density and distribution of r... more The behavioural ecological approach to anthropology states that the density and distribution of resources determines optimal patterns of resource use and also sets its constraints to grouping, mobility and settlement choice. Central place foraging (CPF) models have been used for analyzing foraging behaviours of hunter-gatherers and drawing a causal link from the volume of available resources in the environment to the mobility decisions of hunter-gatherers. In this study, we propose a spatially explicit agent-based CPF model. We explore its potential for explaining the formation of settlement patterns and test its robustness to the configuration of space. Building on a model assuming homogeneous energy distributions, we had to add several new parameters and an adaptation mechanism for foragers to predict the length of their stay, together with a heterogeneous environment configuration. The validation of the model shows that the spatially explicit CPF is generally robust to spatial co...
Akmenų naudojimo Estijos akmens amžiaus ugniavietėse nustatymasUgniavietės ir su jais susiję degę... more Akmenų naudojimo Estijos akmens amžiaus ugniavietėse nustatymasUgniavietės ir su jais susiję degę akmenys yra įprastos struktūros, randamos akmens amžiaus gyvenvietėse. Nors informacija apie šiuos objektus pateikiama archeologinėse ataskaitose ir publikacijose, iki šiol nebuvo specialaus jiems skirto tyrimo. Šio straipsnio tikslas yra užpildyti šią spragą ir patikrinti hipotezę, kad ugniaviečių struktūriniai bruožai atskleidžia informaciją apie pragyvenimo gyvenvietėse modelį. Šioje studijoje remiamasi Estijos akmens amžiaus ugniaviečių duomenų baze, kuri sudaryta iš visų prieinamų kasinėtų objektų. Duomenų bazėje yra 167 ugniavietės ir kiekybiniai duomenys apie akmenis jose. Duomenų analizė atskleidė, kad akmenų naudojimas ugniavietėse laikui bėgant smarkiai keitėsi. Daugumoje mezolito laikotarpio ugniaviečių akmenų yra, o neolito laikotarpio ugniavietėse akmenys tapo retenybe. Galima daryti išvadą, kad akmenų naudojimas ugniavietėse susijęs su gyvenviečių ekonomika ir pokyčiai lai...
Inductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements... more Inductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements and identify the preferred environmental conditions for habitation. In this study we apply inductive modelling to compare the spatial structure of the settlement systems of hunter-fisher-gatherer groups (Narva and Combed Ware Culture) and early agrarian communities (Corded Ware Culture) in Stone Age Estonia. We conceptualise settlement system formation as a point process and develop a first order point process model representing the environmental suitability for habitation based on geomorphological, soil and proximity to water. We use MaxEnt and the SDMTune machine learning framework for building the model, variable selection and estimation. The model is applied to the two communities and the effects of the variables and the resulting spatial patterns compared. The statistical analysis indicated higher predictive power for hunter-fisher-gatherer sites, which might result from higher variety of agrarian activities, different socio-economic organization or effects of spatial structure of the landscape. The spatial comparison indicates significant differences between the suitable environments for habitation between the two groups. While the hunter-fisher-gatherer population had an entirely shoreline connected settlement system the Corded Ware people inhabited the areas further away from water bodies. This resulted in significantly expanded potential space with differing spatial configuration for the incoming agrarian groups, possibly allowing tolerated immigration. The results also indicate there was a certain overlap of areas considered suitable habitation by both cultural groups, which might have caused a competition for land.
This dataset includes the list of Stone Age settlement sites in the territory of Estonia. The lis... more This dataset includes the list of Stone Age settlement sites in the territory of Estonia. The list was compiled from published sources, grey literature and existing database records for unpublished sites. The current revision (version 1) of the dataset includes sites from recent systematic surveys conducted until 2017 (with some exceptional sites found later). Only sites with known exact locations were included into the dataset. The sites are classified into four stages of the Stone Age: pre-pottery Mesolithic (9000–5200 cal. BC), Narva (5200–3900 cal. BC), Comb Ware (3900–1800 cal. BC) and Corded Ware (2800–2000 cal. BC). The classification is based on typo-chronology of find materials, also using existing radiocarbon and other dating methods, if possible. The number of sites is 410, with 244 pre-pottery Mesolithic sites, 39 sites with Narva pottery, 60 sites with Comb Ware and 67 sites with Corded Ware. As there is a row dedicated to every habitation period in a location the numbe...
Inductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements... more Inductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements and identify the preferred environmental conditions for habitation. In this study we apply inductive modelling to compare the spatial structure of the settlement systems of hunter-fisher-gatherer groups (Narva and Combed Ware Culture) and early agrarian communities (Corded Ware Culture) in Stone Age Estonia.
We conceptualise settlement system formation as a point process and develop a first order point process model representing the environmental suitability for habitation based on geomorphological, soil and proximity to water. We use MaxEnt and the SDMTune machine learning framework for building the model, variable selection and estimation. The model is applied to the two communities and the effects of the variables and the resulting spatial patterns compared.
The statistical analysis indicated higher predictive power for hunter-fisher-gatherer sites, which might result from higher variety of agrarian activities, different socio-economic organization or effects of spatial structure of the landscape.
The spatial comparison indicates significant differences between the suitable environments for habitation between the two groups. While the hunter-fisher-gatherer population had an entirely shoreline connected settlement system the Corded Ware people inhabited the areas further away from water bodies. This resulted in significantly expanded potential space with differing spatial configuration for the incoming agrarian groups, possibly allowing tolerated immigration. The results also indicate there was a certain overlap of areas considered suitable habitation by both cultural groups, which might have caused a competition for land.
INTRODUCTION The lower course of the Jägala River in northern Estonia is rich in prehistoric monu... more INTRODUCTION The lower course of the Jägala River in northern Estonia is rich in prehistoric monuments. In addition to the largest Iron Age hill fort in Estonia (Spreckelsen 1924/1925; Johanson & Veldi 2006; Lõhmus & Oras 2008) six Stone Age1, one Bronze Age2, seven iron Age settlement sites3 and a cupmarked stone have been discovered there (Vedru 2006; kriiska et al. 2009; Kriiska 2011; 2012, fig. 2). Remains of prehistoric fields have been found on extensive areas nearby (Kriiska et al. 2009; Kriiska 2012, fig. 2). By find material and radiocarbon dating acquired so far, the oldest of the settlements in the Jägala region is JägalaJoa IV. The JägalaJoa IV dwelling site is located in Harjumaa, Jõelähtme parish in the village of JägalaJoa (Fig. 1: A). It is situated just by the RuuIhasalu road, approximately 100 metres from the eastern bank of the Jägala River (Fig. 1: B, C). coastal formations and sand dunes dominate the whole area. The cultural layer of the JägalaJoa IV site ...
Theoretical developments are needed to interpret the increasing amount of large-scale spatial dat... more Theoretical developments are needed to interpret the increasing amount of large-scale spatial data about past settlements. So far, settlement patterns have mostly been considered as passive imprints of past human activities and most theories are limited to ecological processes. Locational and spatial interactions have scarcely been included as long-term driving forces of settlement systems but hold promise to explain large-scale patterns. This paper proposes a conceptual model for long-term spatial adaptive settlement systems based on the complex adaptive systems framework and both spatial and cross-scale interactions. The goal of the model is to find new ways of interpreting archaeological location data and understand settlement systems as emerging from microchoices of population units interacting in space. The conceptualisation is carried out on a level that it can be used to bridge hunter-gatherer and urban theories. We first describe settlement patterns based on concepts from archaeological locational studies and socialecological systems. Second, we identify the abstract spatial and aspatial entities of the system and describe the potential relations between them. Using knowledge from previous research, we then map both empirically observable and abstract system entities and predict links between them in order to come up with an overarching conceptual framework. The system is based on residential choice mechanisms and exposes several crossscale feedback loops between the micro-level choices and the settlement system emerging at the meso-level. We finally argue that the proposed adaptive settlement system framework has the potential to bring new insights into long-term processes, especially through dynamic spatial simulation, and at the same time, provides an interpretational framework for archaeological records and empirical spatial analysis. Examples of its applications in archaeological research are introduced.
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2024
Our knowledge of the geography of medieval religious dissent and its repression in the Latin West... more Our knowledge of the geography of medieval religious dissent and its repression in the Latin West is limited by a lack of systematic study of locational information in inquisition trial records. Spatial analysis of these rich details has the potential to help build a bottom-up picture of interaction between dissidents and inquisitors that moves beyond institutional perspectives. This task is rendered challenging due to the inconsistencies and uncertainties of what inquisitors and their notaries typically recorded about the spatial associations of suspects. Probably the most common indicator of such associations found in inquisition records are toponymic surnames. They present challenges of coverage (not everybody had a toponymic surname) and interpretation (multiple possible meanings). This study attempts to tackle the challenge of interpreting such surnames within the context of the nine sentencing events held by the inquisitor Peter Seila in 1241 and 1242 in the Quercy region of Languedoc: covering 650 sentenced individuals, the register documenting these events is the earliest extant record of an inquisition of such scale. Rather than taking the interpretative challenges of toponymic surnames as reasons to limit ourselves to qualitative analysis, our approach shows the value of rendering and analysing them as structured data. Firstly, we quantify the context of toponymic surnames, placing them against the background of broader name construction practices and other social factors. Secondly, we plot and analyse the geocoded data derived from toponymic surnames with the benefit of this contextualisation, looking especially at the distance of toponyms from their associated sentencing centres, in order to derive narratives that best explain the generality of their meaning. The results allow us to appraise the actual spatial coverage of the nine sentencing events. The first two, centred on the important towns of Montauban and Moissac, seem most likely to have been primarily urban affairs, with little evidence of rural coverage. The remainder, which took place in castra (fortified villages), appear to have covered more of the surrounding countryside. These results geographically contextualise the reports of dissidence conveyed within Peter’s register, and suggest narratives for how Peter optimised his strategy for impact in the face of constraints.
The connection between settlement sites and water bodies has been the most prominent characterist... more The connection between settlement sites and water bodies has been the most prominent characteristic of the Stone Age settlement patterns in North-Eastern Europe. Geologist and archaeologist Constantin Grewingk stated already in 1865 that in the Eastern Baltic region “Stone Age people lived by the sea and rivers”. Although there was no empirical data at that time, the following discoveries confirmed this claim. The connection is so obvious that archaeological sites are effectively used as a proxy data for reconstructing past shorelines that have been changing due to isostatic land uplift and changing hydrological conditions. The goal of current paper is to give a statistical description of the settlements’ position relative to the shoreline. The case study is based on the Stone Age settlement site locations in Southern Karelia, Finland. The region is characterized by several water bodies, including lake Saimaa, as well as several smaller lakes and rivers. A small amount of settlement...
The location choice of Stone Age settlements has been long considered to be influenced by environ... more The location choice of Stone Age settlements has been long considered to be influenced by environmental conditions. Proximity to water and sandy soils are most typical examples of those conditions. The notion of the influence resulted from the evidence from a relatively small amount of sites. During the recent decades the number of known settlements has increased to a level where statistical assessment of relation between environmental characteristics and settlement location choice is possible. To undertake this task we collected data about known Estonian Stone Age settlements and acquired environmental data of their locations using publicly available geological datasets. We provide univariate descriptive statistics of the distributions of variables describing site conditions and compare them to characteristics generally present in the environment. We experiment with a set of environmental variables including soil type, distance to water and a selection of geomorphometry derivatives of the digital elevation model. Quantitative assessment confirmed previous observations showing significant effect towards choice of sandy, dry location close to water bodies. The statistical analysis allowed us to assess the effect size of different characteristics. Proximity to water had the largest effect on settlement choice, while soil type was also of considerable importance. Abstract geomorphological variables Topographic Position Index and Topographic Wetness index also inform us about significant effects of surface forms. Differences of settlement locations during stages of the Stone Age are well observable. The environmental conditions of sites from the pre-pottery Mesolithic follow the general pattern but with the greatest variation. Narva and Comb Ware stage settlement locations preferences are nearly identical to each other showing preference of sandy higher areas near the shoreline and indicating increased site investment. For Corded Ware period a new settlement mode is observable which is not any more directly related to water bodies and can be explained by semi-agrarian subsistence and decreasing dependence on aquatic resources
The behavioural ecological approach to anthropology states that the density and distribution of r... more The behavioural ecological approach to anthropology states that the density and distribution of resources determines optimal patterns of resource use and also sets its constraints to grouping, mobility and settlement choice. Central place foraging (CPF) models have been used for analyzing foraging behaviours of hunter-gatherers and drawing a causal link from the volume of available resources in the environment to the mobility decisions of hunter-gatherers. In this study, we propose a spatially explicit agent-based CPF model. We explore its potential for explaining the formation of settlement patterns and test its robustness to the configuration of space. Building on a model assuming homogeneous energy distributions, we had to add several new parameters and an adaptation mechanism for foragers to predict the length of their stay, together with a heterogeneous environment configuration. The validation of the model shows that the spatially explicit CPF is generally robust to spatial co...
Akmenų naudojimo Estijos akmens amžiaus ugniavietėse nustatymasUgniavietės ir su jais susiję degę... more Akmenų naudojimo Estijos akmens amžiaus ugniavietėse nustatymasUgniavietės ir su jais susiję degę akmenys yra įprastos struktūros, randamos akmens amžiaus gyvenvietėse. Nors informacija apie šiuos objektus pateikiama archeologinėse ataskaitose ir publikacijose, iki šiol nebuvo specialaus jiems skirto tyrimo. Šio straipsnio tikslas yra užpildyti šią spragą ir patikrinti hipotezę, kad ugniaviečių struktūriniai bruožai atskleidžia informaciją apie pragyvenimo gyvenvietėse modelį. Šioje studijoje remiamasi Estijos akmens amžiaus ugniaviečių duomenų baze, kuri sudaryta iš visų prieinamų kasinėtų objektų. Duomenų bazėje yra 167 ugniavietės ir kiekybiniai duomenys apie akmenis jose. Duomenų analizė atskleidė, kad akmenų naudojimas ugniavietėse laikui bėgant smarkiai keitėsi. Daugumoje mezolito laikotarpio ugniaviečių akmenų yra, o neolito laikotarpio ugniavietėse akmenys tapo retenybe. Galima daryti išvadą, kad akmenų naudojimas ugniavietėse susijęs su gyvenviečių ekonomika ir pokyčiai lai...
Inductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements... more Inductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements and identify the preferred environmental conditions for habitation. In this study we apply inductive modelling to compare the spatial structure of the settlement systems of hunter-fisher-gatherer groups (Narva and Combed Ware Culture) and early agrarian communities (Corded Ware Culture) in Stone Age Estonia. We conceptualise settlement system formation as a point process and develop a first order point process model representing the environmental suitability for habitation based on geomorphological, soil and proximity to water. We use MaxEnt and the SDMTune machine learning framework for building the model, variable selection and estimation. The model is applied to the two communities and the effects of the variables and the resulting spatial patterns compared. The statistical analysis indicated higher predictive power for hunter-fisher-gatherer sites, which might result from higher variety of agrarian activities, different socio-economic organization or effects of spatial structure of the landscape. The spatial comparison indicates significant differences between the suitable environments for habitation between the two groups. While the hunter-fisher-gatherer population had an entirely shoreline connected settlement system the Corded Ware people inhabited the areas further away from water bodies. This resulted in significantly expanded potential space with differing spatial configuration for the incoming agrarian groups, possibly allowing tolerated immigration. The results also indicate there was a certain overlap of areas considered suitable habitation by both cultural groups, which might have caused a competition for land.
This dataset includes the list of Stone Age settlement sites in the territory of Estonia. The lis... more This dataset includes the list of Stone Age settlement sites in the territory of Estonia. The list was compiled from published sources, grey literature and existing database records for unpublished sites. The current revision (version 1) of the dataset includes sites from recent systematic surveys conducted until 2017 (with some exceptional sites found later). Only sites with known exact locations were included into the dataset. The sites are classified into four stages of the Stone Age: pre-pottery Mesolithic (9000–5200 cal. BC), Narva (5200–3900 cal. BC), Comb Ware (3900–1800 cal. BC) and Corded Ware (2800–2000 cal. BC). The classification is based on typo-chronology of find materials, also using existing radiocarbon and other dating methods, if possible. The number of sites is 410, with 244 pre-pottery Mesolithic sites, 39 sites with Narva pottery, 60 sites with Comb Ware and 67 sites with Corded Ware. As there is a row dedicated to every habitation period in a location the numbe...
Inductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements... more Inductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements and identify the preferred environmental conditions for habitation. In this study we apply inductive modelling to compare the spatial structure of the settlement systems of hunter-fisher-gatherer groups (Narva and Combed Ware Culture) and early agrarian communities (Corded Ware Culture) in Stone Age Estonia.
We conceptualise settlement system formation as a point process and develop a first order point process model representing the environmental suitability for habitation based on geomorphological, soil and proximity to water. We use MaxEnt and the SDMTune machine learning framework for building the model, variable selection and estimation. The model is applied to the two communities and the effects of the variables and the resulting spatial patterns compared.
The statistical analysis indicated higher predictive power for hunter-fisher-gatherer sites, which might result from higher variety of agrarian activities, different socio-economic organization or effects of spatial structure of the landscape.
The spatial comparison indicates significant differences between the suitable environments for habitation between the two groups. While the hunter-fisher-gatherer population had an entirely shoreline connected settlement system the Corded Ware people inhabited the areas further away from water bodies. This resulted in significantly expanded potential space with differing spatial configuration for the incoming agrarian groups, possibly allowing tolerated immigration. The results also indicate there was a certain overlap of areas considered suitable habitation by both cultural groups, which might have caused a competition for land.
INTRODUCTION The lower course of the Jägala River in northern Estonia is rich in prehistoric monu... more INTRODUCTION The lower course of the Jägala River in northern Estonia is rich in prehistoric monuments. In addition to the largest Iron Age hill fort in Estonia (Spreckelsen 1924/1925; Johanson & Veldi 2006; Lõhmus & Oras 2008) six Stone Age1, one Bronze Age2, seven iron Age settlement sites3 and a cupmarked stone have been discovered there (Vedru 2006; kriiska et al. 2009; Kriiska 2011; 2012, fig. 2). Remains of prehistoric fields have been found on extensive areas nearby (Kriiska et al. 2009; Kriiska 2012, fig. 2). By find material and radiocarbon dating acquired so far, the oldest of the settlements in the Jägala region is JägalaJoa IV. The JägalaJoa IV dwelling site is located in Harjumaa, Jõelähtme parish in the village of JägalaJoa (Fig. 1: A). It is situated just by the RuuIhasalu road, approximately 100 metres from the eastern bank of the Jägala River (Fig. 1: B, C). coastal formations and sand dunes dominate the whole area. The cultural layer of the JägalaJoa IV site ...
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Papers by Kaarel Sikk
We conceptualise settlement system formation as a point process and develop a first order point process model representing the environmental suitability for habitation based on geomorphological, soil and proximity to water. We use MaxEnt and the SDMTune machine learning framework for building the model, variable selection and estimation. The model is applied to the two communities and the effects of the variables and the resulting spatial patterns compared.
The statistical analysis indicated higher predictive power for hunter-fisher-gatherer sites, which might result from higher variety of agrarian activities, different socio-economic organization or effects of spatial structure of the landscape.
The spatial comparison indicates significant differences between the suitable environments for habitation between the two groups. While the hunter-fisher-gatherer population had an entirely shoreline connected settlement system the Corded Ware people inhabited the areas further away from water bodies. This resulted in significantly expanded potential space with differing spatial configuration for the incoming agrarian groups, possibly allowing tolerated immigration. The results also indicate there was a certain overlap of areas considered suitable habitation by both cultural groups, which might have caused a competition for land.
We conceptualise settlement system formation as a point process and develop a first order point process model representing the environmental suitability for habitation based on geomorphological, soil and proximity to water. We use MaxEnt and the SDMTune machine learning framework for building the model, variable selection and estimation. The model is applied to the two communities and the effects of the variables and the resulting spatial patterns compared.
The statistical analysis indicated higher predictive power for hunter-fisher-gatherer sites, which might result from higher variety of agrarian activities, different socio-economic organization or effects of spatial structure of the landscape.
The spatial comparison indicates significant differences between the suitable environments for habitation between the two groups. While the hunter-fisher-gatherer population had an entirely shoreline connected settlement system the Corded Ware people inhabited the areas further away from water bodies. This resulted in significantly expanded potential space with differing spatial configuration for the incoming agrarian groups, possibly allowing tolerated immigration. The results also indicate there was a certain overlap of areas considered suitable habitation by both cultural groups, which might have caused a competition for land.