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Settlements and dwellings related to pastoral communities in mountainous areas speak to the adaptation strategies of people to this specific environment. This paper describes unprecedented archaeological features found in the Nuratau Mountains of Uzbekistan, dated between the 18th-early 20th centuries AD, and interpreted as living places of pastoralist groups. Preliminary statistical and spatial analyses provide information on the intra- and inter-site organization and the settlement patterns of these communities. We document some variability in patterns of social and spatial organization of the dwellings and campsites and we discuss the interweaving of the ecological and cultural factors governing the settlement systems. When studied as both physical structures and social spaces, the Nuratau campsites contribute to highlight the choices made by pastoral communities in the past and to investigate the integration of human activities in mountain landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2100 and 500 BP, maize farming spread throughout the American Southwest, driving changes in land use patterns and relative increases in the number of archaeological sites, which is commonly interpreted as increases in population. In the context of the Southwest, with its variable topography and limited water sources, the locations suitable for productive maize agriculture are limited. Higher elevation locations often have a greater abundance of water, both in the form of precipitation and perennial water sources but lack the growing season lengths required for maize farming. Lower elevation locations have the long growing seasons required for maize, but often have higher evaporation rates corresponding with higher temperatures, and thus decreased soil moisture retention. The relationship between elevation and maize agriculture is well recognized, and locations where both growing season length and moisture requirements can be met serve as a Goldilocks Zone in which maize farming is possible. Here, we use a regional approach to model the Goldilocks Zone for maize farming in Utah, and then contextualize patterns of settlement and abandonment on the West Tavaputs Plateau (WTP) in east-central Utah. We use archaeological sites with direct evidence of maize cultivation, modern growing degree days estimates, and modern estimates of moisture abundance to bracket the prehistoric maize farming niche in Utah. Then, we apply the model to archaeological data from the WTP to test hypotheses derived from the Ideal Free Distribution model about the effects population and precipitation changes had on prehistoric land use patterns of settlement and abandonment, and whether the patterns of settlement and abandonment differ from one another. We find that a) population drives land use patterns in the WTP, but not in the way we originally hypothesized, suggesting there is an important decision variable missing from our model, which may pertain to the specific topographic setting of the WTP and the distribution of its water sources, b) precipitation has no effect on land use patterns suggesting that maize agriculture on the WTP was dependent on irrigation, and c) that patterns of settlement and abandonment seem to mirror each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatiotemporal distribution of settlements and their environmental context since the Neolithic is one of the vital components for exploring past changes in human-land relations. However, little attention has been paid to the relationship between the evolution of the social organization, settlement patterns, and the corresponding environmental settings. In this study, the spatiotemporal distribution and rank-size of settlements revealed crucial aspects of the hydrogeomorphic conditions, cultural inheritance, and social evolution in northern Shandong Province based on the GIS analytical methods. The prehistoric settlements were primarily distributed in the pre-mountain plains and low mountain hills due to the change of water volume of big rivers and sea level fluctuations until the expansion to the northern plains during the Longshan period. Determined cultural sequences were demonstrated to be accompanied by different settlement development patterns. Most settlements in an older period were abandoned in the subsequently younger period except the Shang-Zhou period, indicating poor inheritance. The emergence of a middle and high-rank regional settlement system in the Dawenkou-Longshan period suggests a fundamental change in social organization, reflecting the transition from complex chiefdoms to early city-state kingdoms. Such a regional social stratification was intensified during the Shang-Zhou periods when a four-tier settlement system emerged. In addition, the solid cultural importation from the Dawenkou-Longshan period to the central and southern regions brought about the exchange and advancement of production technologies, which once established a solid position in agriculture. However, this was broken by drought and cold climatic events, and the complexity of the Yueshi cultural settlement system that subsequently emerged was substantially weakened. As an important area of Haidai culture, the natural driving force and social organization of ancient culture development from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age are of great significance for understanding the interrelationship between the origin and process of Chinese civilization and environmental evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Azraq oasis in the Eastern Desert of Jordan has produced considerable stone artefacts attributed to the early Palaeolithic, yet relatively few data are available regarding the chronology and palaeoenvironmental contexts of the remains. In this study, we present stratigraphic, sedimentological, and micropalaeontological analyses of the Late Acheulean site SM1 located within the former Shishan Marsh, which we combine with geochronological and sedimentological data from 13 neighbouring geological exposures to reconstruct landscape evolution at the western margin of the Shishan Marsh. We then discuss the Late Quaternary palaeolandscapes of the Greater Azraq Oasis Area over the past c. 350 ka. Our work demonstrates that the central Azraq Basin experienced three local wetting-drying cycles since the late Middle Pleistocene that would have dramatically shifted the quantity and distribution of freshwater resources, ranging from expansive wetland landscapes to desert refugia characterised by isolated spring pools—changes that would have significantly impacted the mobility decisions and settlement patterns of Palaeolithic inhabitants. Our study highlights that developing long-term records of human-environment dynamics in arid environments requires a mosaic approach to palaeoenvironmental reconstruction that is nested within a well-developed understanding of landscape evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent interest in modern climate change has stimulated extensive scientific study into past societal responses to climate variability. However, examining climate change and society as a historical narrative drawing upon politics, economics, and settlement patterns does not provide a direct link between climate and society. Given that most inhabitants of the premodern world engaged in agriculture and/or pastoralism, examining chronological correlations between climate and foodways, not as a historical narrative but as a longterm socioenvironmental process, has the potential to identify direct societal adaptations to a changing environment. From South Greece there is evidence for drier conditions at the end of the Late Bronze Age. Is the disappearance of writing, art, and many known settlements at the end of the Bronze Age an example of collapse in the face of inability to adapt to climate change? This is a difficult question to answer given the coarse resolution of many of our archaeological and climatic datasets. Settlement faunal records suggest that food production systems became increasingly homogenous in Late Bronze Age Greece, potentially due to an elite control over various production systems that promoted intensification of certain products. However, in the first millennium B.C.E., animal husbandry, specifically, and food production systems, more broadly, became more heterogenous, and a proportional increase in goats in areas with less rainfall was likely an adaptive response to the drier climate. This paper examines the adaptive relationship between foodways and climate and argues for a process driven approach when explaining social responses to ancient climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an application of the ideal free distribution (IFD) model to understand settlement patterns during the Mauretanian and Roman periods in northwest Morocco. We use proxies for potential agricultural productivity and distance from a viable harbor for each of the locations of known settlement sites. There is a clear relationship between the distance from harbors and habitat suitability, with sites that were established earliest all on or close to a point of access to the ocean. This is consistent with a focus on maritime trade and a connection with the Mediterranean Sea. Agricultural potential is also an important factor influencing settlement, although to a lesser extent, with earlier, low-density settlement more focused on trade potential. Consistent with predictions of the IFD, there is an expansion through time to progressively lower ranked habitats, with persistent settlement at the highest ranked habitats, including at Lixus, which is generally considered to be the earliest city in northwest Africa. During the Roman period, there is a focus of interior settlement near Volubilis. Subsidiary sites likely benefit from their proximity to this important political site, despite their relatively low rank within the IFD, perhaps reflecting patterns consistent with an ideal despotic distribution. This study demonstrates how the IFD can be used in a simple context with limited available survey data to assess the important environmental variables influencing settlement decisions. It has broad implications for understanding the formation of urban centers prior to and during the Roman period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on palaeoenvironmental conditions and climate variability during the Upper Late Pleistocene (c. 28,000–11,700 cal BP) in SW Europe (Iberian Peninsula) and their influence on human settlement patterns. All the palaeoenvironmental and archaeological sequences available for this period are analysed, together with a new palaeoenvironmental study related to a key deposit: Verdeospesoa mire (northern Iberian Peninsula). The multiproxy analysis (pollen, spores, non-pollen palynomorphs, magnetic susceptibility, organic content and macrocharcoal) of this sequence, with the support of six Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates, shows the climatic variability of that period, with some dry/cold and humid/temperate episodes. While in vast regions of central and northern Europe very few archaeological sites of this age are known, in the Iberian Peninsula no occupation gaps have been detected in all this period, supporting the idea of SW Europe as a glacial refugium for human groups during the worst periods of the Upper Late Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Atlantic coast of north-west France is one of the classic shell-midden regions of the European Mesolithic, made famous by the excavations of Téviec and Hoedic in the first half of the 20th century. At this time, there was a lack of interest in the food refuse component of shell middens. By the end of the 1990s new study methods and techniques had also contributed to a better description of the varied activities of these coastal populations. In Atlantic France, new excavations have demonstrated that shell middens are not a site type but rather one of a variety of stratigraphic units that make up the total settlement pattern. Our perception of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of the French Atlantic coast has now changed from a population pre-occupied with day-to-day survival and forced to eat shellfish out of necessity, to fisher-hunter-gatherers involved in varied activities. Their knowledge of marine biotopes is revealed by the diversity of marine animals dedicated to food, but also by the collection of other raw materials washed up on the beach , including flint or shells devoid of flesh. The latter give us access to the symbolic sphere and were clearly and carefully selected for ornamental purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late Pleniglacial was characterized by different palaeoenvironmental and geographical modifications, which affected the diverse living beings that had to adapt to those peculiar conditions. This paper intends to explore how this phenomenon may have impacted the practices of the nomadic human populations who occupied the East European Plain during the last part of the Pleistocene, through their relation to the environments, landscapes, overall territories, and especially with other species in archaeological context. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, we performed an exhaustive review of the faunal record from an extensive set of archaeological recorded contexts ranging between 31.0 and 21.5 ka cal BP (26.0-18.0 ka 14C BP). We examined the seasons of occupations and the types of activities at each site, the global subsistence economies, as well as the technocultural practices and settlement patterns of the human groups. This research shed new light on the connections amongst different human groups and between humans and other animals, the socio-ecological systems that have been favored during this critical period of human prehistory in the East European Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Settlement distribution modelling assumes that human spatial behaviour can be revealed by using the correct set of variables. However, the regional variables of large-scale gradients are only considered rarely. Also, settlement modelling applications are often impeded by fragmentary and error-prone datasets. Thus, in current-day Lithuania, in order to study the dynamics of settlement distributional rules, we implemented a modelling strategy that involves the use of statistical and machine learning methods with null model simulations and that is less affected by the incompleteness of datasets and the scales of variables. In this study, we used regional variables in order to test their usefulness while providing a general understanding of the large-scale processes that governed settlement distribution in prehistory. This study encompassed six time intervals between the Palaeolithic and Iron Ages. The obtained results consisted of regional settlement predictive maps, estimations of random forest variable importance and performances of GAM models, as well as determinations of Besag's L-functions of settlement patterns and Euclidean distances between the regional variables at the settlement sites. We detected decreasing spatial autocorrelation of the settlement prediction maps and settlement patterns, declining variable importance and model performance, as well as increasing regional environmental diversity of the settlement sites. A marked manifestation of these trends was observed between the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. This also corresponded to a major change in the constitution of the most important variables of the settlement distributions. We associate these findings with technological and lifestyle changes in the southern Baltic region, interpreting them as causing a roughening of the human adaptive landscape – increasing the specificity, number and complexity of the settlement distributional rules. Our study revealed that, even for incomplete datasets and spatial autocorrelation, the application of advanced statistical/machine learning techniques was able to provide new insights into the processes that governed the socio-cultural evolution and spatial dynamics of humans in prehistory. • Regional heterogeneity in settlement probability persisted through time. • The complexity of settlement distribution increased constantly. • The major shift in distributional rules occurred at the Bronze Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of a standard protocol for analyzing and comparing multiple assemblages of lithic artifacts has hindered the advance of a better understanding of the cultural diversity associated to prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups. This was the case of Brazilian archaeologists that for many decades associated lithic stemmed point assemblages to a cultural entity known as "Umbu Tradition". However, most associations of assemblages to this "tradition" have been made regardless of the type of lithic points, as well as ignoring other elements related to the lithic industry, settlement patterns, among others. As a result, since the 1980s, several studies have been questioning the validity of such Tradition. Recent research has proposed new definitions for the previously associated Umbu Tradition lithic industries based on the stemmed points typology. However, no raw data on the technological analysis of such points have ever been presented. This article proposes a protocol for the technological study of lithic points that allows the application of descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis to verify if these types present or not significant differences. We present new data on the technological analysis of 501 lithic points from sites located in the supposed Umbu Tradition coverage area and period, as well two new Early Holocene C14 dates for one of the studied sites (Caetetuba site). Our results corroborate previous propositions of discarding Umbu Tradition as a valid cultural entity, as well as new typologies for the points. We also show that our protocol is suitable to unravel potential cultural patterns regarding many attributes in lithic points as well as to explore if there are significant differences among previously defined types. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific discussion about the spread of the Neolithic into Western Central Europe is usually dominated by analyses of ceramics, chert and archaeobotany. In this discourse, the settlement structure is studied at most as a supplementary source of information, although these data offer a much more direct approach to the question of the formation of the Neolithic as a new way of life. Therefore, the two criteria that were decisive for the selection of the location of the settlements in the Bandkeramik (the natural conditions and the local settlement traditions) are analysed here. This comparison of the settlement patterns of the Earliest Bandkeramik and the LBK provided a new perspective on the formation of Flomborn and thus of the LBK in the strict sense of the word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two fundamental cultural developments of the Danube region in the second half of the 6th millennium cal BC, namely the emergence of the Vinča culture and the formation and spread of the LBK in Central Europe, are among the most contentious issues of European Neolithic archaeology. Although the relationship between the two cultures has often been emphasised, its true nature is yet to be explored. One principal obstacle is the spatial gap: research has yet failed to establish a direct geographic link between Vinča and LBK settlement patterns along the Danube. From this point of view, the discovery of the intense presence of the early Vinča culture in southernmost Transdanubia was particularly significant. In this region, an active zone of contacts between Vinča and LBK type material cultures can be detected from the mid-54th century cal BC. The sites of Szederkény- Kukorica-dűlő , Versend- Gilencsa and Szemely- Irtás in the Southern Baranya Hills (South Hungary) were pivotal in gaining a better understanding of these phenomena. The investigated sites revealed typical longhouse architecture, an emblematic feature of the LBK universe, meanwhile the associated material culture belonged primarily to the Vinča and Ražište styles or revealed their combination with Starčevo and LBK types. The coalescence of different technological traditions and styles in individual objects, creating unique, 'hybrid' solutions, has also been observed. This paper presents various types of phenomena (settlement structure, technology and style, ritual objects, burials) demonstrating movements, mutual influences, the amalgamation of practices, and the diffusion of artefacts in the second half of 6th millennium cal BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper we will introduce the results of several recent archaeological surveys in the area of Novi Kneževac, Čoka and Kikinda municipalities on the north Banat side of Tisza and Kanjiža and Senta municipalities on the Bačka side of the River. The north Bačka region of Serbia is physically divided by the waters of the Tisza River from the north Banat region, but both were greatly influenced by its everchanging course throughout (pre)history. The surveys have yielded new information about the middle and late Neolithic in the north of Serbia, but have also brought to light numerous interesting facts. The earliest evidence of human habitation in the area date to Körös-Starčevo period of the middle Neolithic with multiple sites of various sizes discovered on both sides of the River. Surface collection indicates that these sites are mostly short time, single period settlements, without prominent vertical stratigraphies or tell like formations. While the north Banat area on the left bank of Tisza was continuously occupied and transformed unhindered from middle to late Neolithic traditions with several multi-layered telloid sites attested in the period, having Körös-Starčevo, Sakalhat and early Vinča presence, on the opposite bank, in the north Bačka area, the late Neolithic period remains elusive. In the paper, we will analyse and compare several aspects of the living environment, the landscape and subsistence strategies to compare two neighbouring regions and attempt to isolate and identify factors that may have influenced the absence of the late Neolithic in the area of Serbian north Bačka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palaeoclimatic records from southern tip of South America during the Last Holocene, indicate important climate intervals, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age, which offered new scenarios to hunter-gatherer groups who inhabited the region. The aim of this paper is to explore the social practices carried out by hunter-fisher-gatherer societies of the southern part of the Atlantic Coast of Tierra del Fuego island (53–55°S, 66–74°W) in order to deal with these environmental changes. From our perspective, foragers have played an active role in designing strategies to cope with environmental fluctuations. Consequently, we argue that in a context of ecological uncertainty, these societies would have developed flexible strategies in terms of subsistence, technology and settlement patterns. In order to test this proposal, zooarchaeological and technological analysis of different archaeological assemblages dated between the 1300 to 220 BP were undertaken. The results show that these hunter-fisher-gatherer societies exploited a broad range of faunal resources using a versatile technology which encompassed tools with low production values and high use values. Likewise, the analysis of landscape organization revealed a settlement strategy centered on the most productive habitats, which were preferentially reoccupied. We suggest that these strategies, supported by cumulative knowledge and material conditions, could have enhanced social resilience and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Holocene geomorphic changes have fundamentally shaped the spatial-temporal distributions of prehistoric and historical settlements in North China. Through intensive field surveys and careful field examination of typical sedimentary sequences, we reconstructed the Late-Pleistocene and Holocene geomorphic history in the two major basins of the mid-lower Fen River, central-south Shanxi, China. Our first-hand data provides crucial information for reconstructing the dynamic relationship between the characteristics of Holocene geomorphic changes and settlement distribution patterns in the two basins from the Neolithic period to the Bronze-Age Xia-Shang Dynasties. In the Taiyuan Basin, due to river downcutting processes from the end of the Late Pleistocene to the Early Holocene, edge of the basin emerged and evolved into tablelands. The elevation of the flat lands atop the tablelands that was significantly above the level of floodwater provided an ideal environment for early settlements. The Holocene geomorphic changes are characterized by continous fluvio-lacustrine aggradation, and the central basin became void of human settlements due to uninhabitable hydrological and gemorphic conditions and especially due to frequent floods. Instead, most settlements were located along the basin, displaying a unique "around-basin" distribution pattern. In the Linfen Basin, following large-scale incision of the main channels and branches of the Fen River during the Late Pleistocene, platform-type plain with deep incised valleys was formed. Similar to the surrounding loess tableland, the central basin became an optimal environment for human activities and settlement construction, forming a "full-basin" like settlement distribution pattern that is distinctively different from the "around-basin" distribution pattern in the Taiyuan basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yiluo region in the middle Yellow River has been a core area of archaeological inquiry for understanding the origins of the first dynastic states in China. In order to investigate the social changes on a regional scale, a systematic full-coverage regional survey project was carried out from 1997 to 2018, covering an area of 1183 km2 in the Yiluo region. This paper analyzes the settlement patterns of 451 sites of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages (ca. 6000–200 cal. BC), providing the most comprehensive pictures yet, of the spatial and temporal relationships of settlement distribution during a nearly 6000-year time span. The paper demonstrates a developmental trajectory from a landscape dotted with scattered, small Neolithic villages to a highly centralized dynastic heartland in early Chinese civilization. The evolutionary pathways were not straightforward, but were characterized by episodic fluctuations in population density, and the rise and fall of complex societies. Holocene climatic fluctuations may have played significant roles affecting human activities, but it is the human responses to external challenges in various ways that ultimately determined the trajectories of social evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in social organization accelerated on California's northern Channel Islands beginning around 1300 cal BP. These changes were associated with shifts in settlement and subsistence patterns related in part to drought conditions during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA; 1150-600 cal BP). By the end of the MCA, settlement patterns demonstrate evidence for territoriality and can be described by the ideal despotic distribution. The occupants of the most productive habitats prevented new settlers from moving in and accessing the available resources. We use faunal data from five sites on western Santa Rosa Island (CA-SRI-15, -31, −97, −313, and −333) to trace changes in settlement and population aggregation through this period. Fishing, which can support higher population densities than harvesting shellfish, increased overall from the Middle (2550-800 cal BP) to Late Period (650-168 cal BP), but there were fewer settlement sites on western Santa Rosa Island. In the centuries before the Middle to Late Period Transition (MLT; 800-650 cal BP), people occupied sites geographically dispersed along the west coast of the island. After the MLT, fishing was restricted to fewer large coastal villages. We argue that environmental stress and an increase in warfare on the northern Channel Islands drove the growth of more permanent consolidated villages, the development of territoriality, and settlement patterns consistent with greater resource defense and therefore a more despotic distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Settlement activity in the Nile delta is characterized by its profound connection to the branches of the river Nile. Major ancient settlements were founded next to waterways. The constant shifting of these Nile branches – coming either too close or moving too far away – was a fundamental challenge for settlements. This research focuses on the region around Buto (Tell el-Fara'in) in the northwestern Nile delta. The massive increase in settlements in the Ptolemaic, Roman and in particular late Roman periods (4th c BC – 7th c AD) needs to be connected with a fundamental change in the landscape and the way people interacted with the landscape. A particular challenge to reconstructing the ancient land and waterscape was posed by the regional lack of an indicative modern surface relief. A linear settlement pattern of ancient sites was interpreted as showing the distribution along a defunct river branch. A combination of remote sensing data, in particular a new high resolution DEM based on Tandem-X data, and a program of over thirty cores on the ground, have clarified the landscape, especially its fluvial pattern, and the placements of associated settlements. In the north of the study region, the DEM shows elevated levees of former palaeorivers belonging to a finely ramified subdelta, with all settlements placed on alluvial levees. The corings uncovered different artificial channels and identified ancient natural riverbeds at a deep level but similar depth, suggesting that the streams were active during the occupation of these sites and the ancient settlements were either in direct vicinity of the natural rivers or connected via artificial channels. These artificial channels found in corings next to the settlements show characteristics of slack water regimes. In essence, the massive increase of settlements spread over the northwestern delta in Classical Antiquity was spurred by multiple branches that provided routes of transportation, fresh water for irrigation and good conditions for agriculture on their elevated and fertile levees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract River landscapes can be regarded as amongst the most densely populated regions in the world. Despite their dynamic nature and their susceptibility to natural hazards, pull factors such as fertile soils and trade connections always have attracted people to these regions. During the Roman (12 BCE – 450 CE) and early-medieval periods (450 CE–1050) the Rhine-Meuse delta in the Netherlands underwent significant simultaneous cultural and environmental changes such as changing settlement patterns, the collapse of the Roman limes , changing flooding regimes and river avulsions. Past route networks are influenced by both cultural and natural dynamics and are therefore a useful tool to better understand the complex interaction between these dynamics. By applying and enhancing recently-developed methods of modelling route networks in dynamic lowlands, this study reconstructs connectivity patterns in the Rhine-Meuse delta. Based on newly-available high-resolution geoscientific and archaeological data, network-friction maps and route networks were calculated for three time slices: 100 CE, 500 and 900. These modelled networks were validated using archaeologically-excavated infrastructural and isolated finds. Additionally the amount of network stability between these networks was calculated. Results show that for each of the route zones a clear correlation exist between the modelled network and the occurrence of infrastructural and isolated finds. Although clear periodic differences between these correlations percentages are visible. Despite the dynamic nature of the research area the routes show clear signs of network stability, with 80% of the 500 CE network being persistent with their 100 CE counterparts. Between 500 CE and 900 CE the persistence percentage slightly rises to 81% indicating a similar level of network stability. This shows that large parts of the Rhine-Meuse delta were persistently used during the Roman period and Early Middle Ages despite local settlement dynamics and changing natural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Settlement locations in delta landscapes change through time because of cultural and natural dynamics. We assessed the impact of natural-landscape dynamics on settlement-location shifts for the Rhine-Meuse delta in the Netherlands during the Roman and early-medieval periods (12 BCE–450 CE and 450–1050 CE respectively). During this time interval major landscape and cultural changes occurred in this area, with river avulsions and changes in flooding frequency coinciding with changing settlement patterns. In the delta plain, the relatively high and dry alluvial ridges of abandoned or active rivers were most favourable for habitation. Settlement location and elevation patterns were reconstructed in these landscape units using a high-resolution elevation map of the alluvial ridges. By integrating high-resolution palaeo-environmental and archaeological datasets for this period, we were able to spatially analyse the trends and to assess the effect of environmental changes on habitation. Results show that settlements progressively shifted towards higher areas between 250 and 750 CE, on average by 20 cm over this period deltawide, which was coeval with an increased frequency of severe Rhine floods. The observed spatial differences demonstrate that this trend is most notable in the least-elevated segments of the study area. In areas where new large river branches developed, settlements show a strong shift towards higher-elevated parts of the landscape or even became completely abandoned. The river probably caused floods to be more frequent and more severe in these areas. Despite the clear link between changing settlement positions and floods during the studied time interval, floods do not seem to have caused long-term abandonment of major parts of the study area. Highlights • Wetland habitation mainly occurred on the higher parts of the alluvial ridges. • Between 270 CE and 750 settlements shifted towards higher locations coeval with an increased frequency of severe floods. • Close to large rivers, settlements appear to be more susceptible to low-magnitude floods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has a twin methodological and interpretative focus. It presents the use of geospatial technologies applied to archaeological surveying. We use the high-resolution spatial and temporal data obtained from the study of the ancient Protohistoric and Roman landscape in the eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Alicante province, Spain) to illustrate the methodological proposals. The observed spatial patterns allow us to infer certain aspects relating to the ancient use of the land, transformations in settlement patterns and the intensification of landscape use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines settlement system changes before and during the Last Glacial Maximum in central Japan. Human mobility is estimated from raw material procurement to infer how Upper Paleolithic hunter–gatherers acquired necessary materials. Seventy-four sites are investigated with the methodological assumption that the lithic raw materials were obtained through an embedded strategy. Changes in settlement patterns through time are reconstructed in the following ways. First, around 30,000 14 Cyrs BP, hunter–gatherer territories formed between high-quality lithic raw material sources approximately 200 km apart, constrained by the distribution of lithic raw material sources and the area's terrain and suggesting that their subsistence activities were also conducted in those prime areas. Second, during the Last Glacial Maximum, hunter–gatherers still acquired lithic raw materials from distant sources around 200 km apart, while the area of hunting activities using spear points decreased to an 80 km radius. As territories shrank, large manufacturing sites for making spear points appeared in the vicinity of high-quality raw material sources in this period. In sum, the embedded lithic procurement system in Japan during this period was largely changed by ecological deterioration. Patterns transitioned from general resource exploitation in the early period to seasonal movement between isolated resource-rich areas during the Last Glacial Maximum, resulting in significant change from the mobile hunter–gather society at the end of the Late Pleistocene to the sedentary society of the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Star Carr and other Mesolithic sites in the Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire, UK, have seen long-standing interest from archaeologists since the 1950's, and offer a vivid picture of various aspects of post-glacial hunter–gatherers in Northwest Europe. However, answers to several important aspects of prehistoric behavior still remain unclear, particularly concerning local subsistence and settlement strategies. This paper develops a comparative approach to these questions, and draws structured analogies between the British Mesolithic and the Jomon period of Holocene hunter–gatherer archaeology in Japan, both of which occupied similar temperate/sub-boreal woodland environments. Thus the purpose of this paper is to better understand early Mesolithic socio-economic strategies in the Vale of Pickering, by: 1) re-considering the organization of subsistence at Star Carr via careful comparison with the Jomon period site of Awashimadai in Kanto District, paying renewed attention to the two main features of Star Carr, i.e. the organization woodland deer hunting and the lack of evidence for use of aquatic resources; and 2) by re-examining overall land use strategies in the Vale of Pickering by re-analysis of faunal remains first recovered from excavations conducted in the late 1970's and 1980's. The results of this comparative analysis indicate that Star Carr was a summer hunting camp organized for deer, probably occupied exclusively by people socially specialized in hunting, and that Mesolithic land-use strategies probably extended well beyond the Vale of Pickering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on changes in settlement patterns on the frontier zones of wetlands and areas suitable for settling in the Great Hungarian Plain, Central Europe. Based on the statistical analysis of archaeological site elevations in a 4.128 km² lowland landscape, it is demonstrated that archaeological sites of the Árpád Period (AD 970–1300) were situated significantly (p = 0.01; n = 427) lower than those of the late medieval period (AD 1300–1540). Statistical results suggest that rising water levels are likely to have influenced the migration and transformation in settlement patterns from the Medieval Warm Epoch (mid-10 th – mid-13 th century) to the first part of the Little Ice Age (mid-13 th century – mid-16 th century). Zonal analysis also revealed close connections between flood-prone geomorphological features and spatiotemporal variations of settlement patterns during the medieval climate change. With regard to the lowland character of the extensive study area, its relatively high flood vulnerability and the numerous analogies from Europe and the Carpathian Basin, only one out of the multitude of factors influencing site selection, water level changes can be interpreted as a rational explanation for the vertical displacement of the settlement pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northwestern France is characterized by the presence of many Middle Palaeolithic sites, covering the entire period. The Saalian phase is less documented, partly for taphonomic reasons. The lithic industries indicate mastery of all production systems for flakes, blades, points and to a lesser extent, bifaces. During the Upper Pleistocene, occupation of this territory by Neandertal groups is important. The vast majority of these lithic series cannot be attributed to cultural facies of Mousterian defined by Bordes, due to the low number of retouched tools. Aside from some typical Mousterian of Acheulean tradition bifaces and blade production characteristic of the Early Weichselian, which are stylistic and cultural markers, there is nothing to differentiate Mousterian groups. In an attempt to identify their cultural identities, lithic assemblages were apprehended globally, using the operative sequence concept from the acquisition of raw material to the final objectives of the different production systems, and abandonment of tools. The situation is considered from each chronostratigraphic phase to try to distinguish the settlement patterns of this region. This renewed approach to technical studies points to a wide diversity of Neandertal adaptive faculties, which can be interpreted in terms of cultural diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the early medieval period, Ireland was politically organised into a large number of very small kingdoms. Unlike much of Western Europe, it had not been incorporated into the Roman Empire, and as a consequence, settlement remained exclusively rural in character until the Viking period. Extensive documentary, archaeological, zooarchaeological and macro-plant evidence provides a detailed reconstruction of the livestock and arable economy of the period. Cattle ownership formed the basis of wealth as well as being an indicator of status in society, and this is reflected in its clear dominance of the livestock economy during this period. From the eighth century onwards, however, cereal production appears to grow in importance as subsistence farming gave way to the production of agricultural surplus. This is reflected in cereal diversification and in the construction of watermills and more efficient grain-drying kilns. At the same time, settlement underwent significant changes and the relative importance of cattle in some areas began to decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The landscape around Langebaan Lagoon in the Western Cape of South Africa contains a rich archive of Middle and Late Pleistocene hominin behavior. Stone Age localities of all ages are abundant and present a valuable perspective on the region’s settlement history. A complex pattern of land use is evident starting with an analysis of the Earlier Stone Age (ESA) collections from Anyskop combined with a review of data from Elandsfontein and Duinefontein. These Late Acheulian assemblages demonstrate an emphasis on handaxe production, the exploitation of medium and large game, and use of non-local raw materials. While seasonal pans provided water for animals and humans at these ESA localities, Anyskop is distinctive because of its hilltop setting, lacking water and direct access to game. Middle Stone Age (MSA) assemblages from Geelbek and Anyskop combined with a review of data from Hoedjiespunt, Sea Harvest and Ysterfontein provide further evidence for a regional settlement system that also incorporated non-local raw materials into the lithic provisioning strategy. Some MSA lithic technologies in the Western Cape were aimed at the production of bifacial points and blades, as well as backed elements. Subsistence strategies expanded to encompass the utilization of both terrestrial and marine resources. Although symbolic artifacts are rare from these sites, worked ochre is present at Hoedjiespunt. These behavioral patterns suggest that the Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins who left these ESA and MSA materials behind were adept masters of their environment with adaptations well suited to the West Coast landscape. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

South America appears as a paradox for building the images of the New World''s human colonization. It is a paradox, because according to the models of the Peopling of America, it was the last part of the continent to be occupied by humans, but in spite of that sites as old as or older than the “Clovis” sites from North America, started to be discovered since the last century. It is a laboratory, because the amount of the Pleistocene archaeological sites is as great as their variability. In this way, since the last two decades, the hemi-continent is placed in a privileged situation for questioning and reconstructing theories concerning the first Americans, and also for answering questions as when did they arrive, how did they arrive, what strategies (social, ecological and economic) did they develop for the colonization of such different environments, which were their ideas for achieving this colonization, and how does their use of space and resources reflect in the archaeological record. The model “Clovis the first”, brings an image of unidirectional migration of the first people, from the great North American plains to southern Patagonia. For a decade, this model showed itself insufficient for explaining the great archaeological variability of America and especially for referring those South American contexts directly to a Clovis migration. The new findings in South America are creating more anomalies for this model, which predicts that the arrival of Pleistocene hunter–gatherers should be around 10,000 years in Patagonia. The object of this paper is to discuss these models in view of South American archaeological evidence, and thus propose answers for removing the paradox. The axes which are considered are: the geographical and chronological distribution of the main localities of Patagonia and South America; the function of the sites within regional mobility systems; the use of subsistence resources; the differences in the circulation of lithic raw materials; and the different taphonomical histories. These characteristics will be compared with models of social network among mobile peoples and American paleolandscapes at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition and a new alternative route of peopling in South America will be presented. In this sense, the data of Patagonia are highly relevant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]