Abstract
This paper deals with the analysis of long-term changes in population densities at the regional and macro-regional scale and in the density of metapopulations. The following issues concerning estimations are addressed: chronological resolution of demographic changes, estimation of the weight of values for population density in order to transform the initial values included in the sample into the values that may be compared with each other at the regional scale, calibration of the transformed values into real population densities, and the estimation of the weight of values for population density at the scales of macro-regions and for the density of metapopulations. The proposed methods are tested on demographic changes in Central Europe, Southern Scandinavia, Southeastern Europe, and the Near East. The obtained results represent major trends in demographic development, while the proposed methodology could also be applied in other wide-scale demographic analyses.
Highlights
During the last decades, many different population estimates for prehistoric European populations were made, generally through the use of a variety of proxies
The following issues are questioned and addressed: To what extent does a small region that is inhabited by a large number of people, or a large area with a dispersed population contribute to the average population density at a macro-regional scale? If a certain innovation affects the increase in population density in a one region, how does this innovation influence the population density of macro-regions and the density of metapopulations? In other words, we suggest weighting values in order to transform the initial population density data included in the sample into values that may be compared with each other at spatial scales of high orders
Tracing long-term demographic changes may be considered as causes of increase in population density
Summary
Many different population estimates for prehistoric European populations were made, generally through the use of a variety of proxies. In order to exemplify our approach, we employ data on population density estimations that were made by archaeologists in their local and regional working areas based on their expert knowledge. This data includes evaluations of depositional processes, chronology, character of data, and critical assessments of representativeness by experts of the targeted periods and areas, and provides reliable values.
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