Archaeological Settlement Research Articles

Integrating thermal and optical models with legacy excavation data for spatial inventories

Researching at previously excavated archaeological sites comes with its own challenge set, which includes ground-truthing previously unearthed architectural features to correlate old and new trenches. This study presents a comprehensive examination technique to approach architectural features at mound-type archaeological settlements through the synergistic utilization of thermal and optical imagery obtained via remote sensing technologies. Employing an interdisciplinary approach involving various types of imagery (optical, thermal, and radar) embedded in archaeological data, this research aims to reevaluate legacy spatial data and enhance the understanding of subsurface archaeological features by exploiting the complementary advantages of both thermal and optical sensors.This study involves the acquisition, processing, and integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based thermal and optical datasets to derive a complete representation of archaeological landscapes. Ground-truthing and validation exercises are incorporated to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the results. The results contribute to advancing the field of archaeological remote sensing and highlight the significance of integrating diverse sensing modalities for a comprehensive and nuanced interpretation of archaeological landscapes. The techniques exemplified with two mound-type case sites help to generate high-resolution mappings which provide tools to increase the accuracy of on-site legacy data and help digital protection of the sites by generating digital twins. This presents a less costly method than conventional photogrammetric techniques, making it feasible and advantageous for field archaeologists or researchers dealing with legacy spatial data.

Crafting crossroads in Zagori (north-west Greece): Ottoman-era archaeology through a workshop in vernacular architecture

Abstract Reconstruction of a nineteenth-century cobbled pathway in the village of Aristi provides valuable insights into the material culture and settlement archaeology of Ottoman-era Greece. The authors argue that such small-scale pairing of restoration and archaeological practices in ‘traditional’ settlements could enhance our understanding of Ottoman archaeology without undermining the lived experience of such places.

Remaking the Late Holocene Environment of Western Uganda: Archaeological Perspectives on Kansyore and Later Settlers

AbstractArchaeological and environmental research by an international and interdisciplinary team opens new perspectives into the settlement histories of Kansyore, Early Iron Age, and Bigo period peoples in the once forested regions of the Ndali Crater Lakes Region (NCLR) of western Uganda. The research examines the role of Kansyore agropastoralists and their Early Iron Age and Bantu-speaking contemporaries in remaking a once forested environment into a forest-savannah mosaic from circa 500 BC to the end of the first millennium AD. Archaeological settlement and subsistence evidence is examined within a framework of social interaction of Sudanic speakers with Bantu speakers, drawing on historical linguistics and environmental studies to arrive at a new synthesis of late Holocene history in western Uganda. This perspective also unveils the significance and chronology of Boudiné ware, a long enigmatic ceramic tradition that we identify as contemporary to Transitional Urewe and deeply influenced through social interactions with those making Kansyore ceramics and inhabiting the same landscape. Using archaeological evidence from fifteen sites and multiple burials spanning from 400 to 1650 calAD, new views of ceramic histories, lifeways, and symbolic values are revealed, including Bigo period settlements that arose in what was an environmental refugium beginning in the early fourteenth century AD. This research also shows that the Kansyore of the forested region east of the Rwenzori Mountains had greater affinities to late Holocene archaeological evidence from western Equatoria, in the southern South Sudan, and Kansyore Island, Uganda, than it does to the Kansyore in eastern Kenya.

Aksaz Thermal Complex: An Evaluation in Terms of Glass Finds and Settlement Archaeology

The Aksaz thermal complex is located 48 km southwest of the centre of Uşak province, 18 km southwest of Ulubey district and 4.3 km southeast of Aksaz village. Blaundos (Sülümenli) is 10 km northeast of the spa, Motello (Bekilli) 24 km east and Tripolis (Buldan) 33 km southwest. Since many illegal excavations were discovered in the area in 1994, rescue excavations were carried out by a team from the Uşak Museum Directorate. The Aksaz stream is on the northern boundary of the bath where the rescue excavations were carried out and it was found that there were many hot water springs around the bath. This bath complex, which seems to have been in use from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine periods, was unfortunately abandoned after the rescue excavations and has been further destroyed by illegal excavations. The aim of this study is to emphasise the need for new additions to the road routes indicated by D. French with the existence of this archaeological site, by evaluating a thermal structure that has survived for hundreds of years in a rural settlement area and the uses of the glass found here.

Contribution of the Microhistorical Approach to Landscape and Settlement Archaeology: Some French Examples

Abstract In this article, we study the contributions of the microhistorical approach to landscape and settlement archaeology in the French context. First, we outline the reception of microhistorical concepts in France. The micro-analytical scale allows a renewal of the questionings, of the approaches, and therefore of the vision of the studied societies. In the particular case of archaeological research on landscape and settlement, we argue that the microhistorical approach proposes the spatial micro-scale as a framework, but it must be surpassed by a comparative approach capable of discerning common trends and local particularities. This approach thus makes it possible to question major macro-historical questions that still lack clear and consensual answers, such as the modalities of transition between major historical phases, the nucleation of settlement into the medieval village, the extension of the finages and the possibility of agricultural growth in the early Middle Ages, or the modalities of management and exploitation of natural resources.

The paleoclimate of the Gediz Graben (Western Türkiye) and archaeological settlement patterns during the Holocene

The Gediz Graben is one of the highly sensitive areas in the Anatolian Peninsula to climatic changes as the climatic patterns in the region have been controlled by both polar and tropical circulation systems. We used readily available results from the CHELSA paleoclimate model and ran the MCM to obtain the paleo-precipitation and paleo-temperature patterns for the research area. This research aims to reconstruct the past climatic conditions of the Gediz Graben during the last 12 ka years through the paleoclimate model results and existing multiple proxy records in the eastern Mediterranean, to contextualize the long-term changes in archaeological settlement patterns in the region. Although we compare the model results here, we base our interpretations of paleoclimate reconstructions on the results of the MCM and the proxy records. The paleoclimatic conditions of the Graben were wetter and colder during the Early Holocene. The Middle and Late Holocene climate was generally stable and near-modern patterns prevailed around 7 ka in the Graben. However, the climatic shifts occurred at smaller amplitudes for shorter periods in comparison to the Early Holocene. These patterns are supported by local and regional proxy records in the eastern Mediterranean. The archaeological settlements in the Plain increased from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age; gathered around large bodies of water. The results suggest that the paleoenvironmental processes (the paleo-lakes, paleoclimatic conditions) contributed to decisions concerning the locales of archaeological settlements on the Gediz Plain.

Ostracod palaeolimnology as an indicator of past human–environment interactions in Chełm Hills, south-eastern Poland

Both modern and historical data show that lake systems are undergoing profound changes because of human impacts from local to global scales. Research on this topic shows that human pressure on water systems can take various forms and is highly variable in time and space. This article presents the results of Ostracoda fauna research as an indicator of anthropogenic changes covering the time span from 7000 BP to the Mediaeval Period. The palaeoecological information (abundance and habitat preferences of Ostracoda assemblages) obtained in studies of fossil Ostracoda fauna communities amplified by palynological and archaeological data allowed to answer the following questions: (1) to what extent the impact of successive archaeological settlement cultures caused ecological changes in the lake catchment areas without directly affecting the lakes themselves, and when anthropogenic pressure caused transformations in the functioning of lake ecosystems and (2) whether the neolithization, as the first clearly legible stage of anthropopression, had a decisive influence on the functioning of lake ecosystems. Results of Ostracoda fauna studies have been compared with archaeological data available in the literature and multiproxy paleoenvironmental data previously published in a study of lake sediments in the Chełm Hills in South-Eastern Poland. Presented results of study of Ostracoda in lake sediments as a bioindicators of anthropogenic impact suggest that the pressure of prehistoric settlement in older phases (up to the early Middle Ages) was most clearly reflected in the landscape, while the functioning of lake ecosystems was disturbed only by the periodic increase in lake trophic status. A substantial change resulting from the analysis of the subfossil Ostracoda in all the studied lake ecosystems occurred in the phase of settlement related to the Early Middle Ages, which was reflected in the permanently changed species composition of the fauna.

On the early development of Huastecs (Gulf of Mexico) revealed by the Earth's magnetic field recorded in domestic hearths

AbstractA detailed magnetic mineralogy and archaeomagnetic study was carried out on recently discovered domestic hearths and burned floors at the Chak Pet archaeological settlement (Tamaulipas, Mexico). The study aimed to obtain reliable absolute chronological constraints on the early development of Huastecs during the Formative period. Oriented hand samples corresponded to four domestic hearths and one burned floor. Continuous thermomagnetic curves revealed mostly irreversible behavior, while titanomagnetites, titanomaghemites, and goethites are assumed to carry the remanent magnetization. In total, 87 specimens were subjected to stepwise demagnetization of natural remanent magnetization using an alternating field procedure. Characteristic remanent magnetization directions were obtained for 29 samples of two hearths and one burned floor. No single, technically acceptable paleointensity determination was obtained. The new archaeomagnetic age intervals for Chak Pet allow locating the origin of this settlement at the Gulf of Mexico within the Middle Formative (900–600 BCE) continuing until the Late Formative period (350–100 BCE). New archaeomagnetic ages are in accordance with the diagnostic pottery analysis. Dated archaeological elements are associated with both ceramic types and different sets of burials, providing a reliable tool to calibrate their chronological and stratigraphic positions.

Dense pasts: settlement archaeology after Fox's The archaeology of the Cambridge region (1923)

Cyril Fox's publication The archaeology of the Cambridge region (1923) is celebrated as a milestone in the development of landscape archaeology. Its centenary invites reflection on Fox's approach to landscape and on the development of knowledge about the archaeology of the Cambridge region over the intervening years. Here, the authors compare the evidence available to Fox with the results of three decades of development-led archaeology. The latter have revealed very high numbers of sites, with dense ‘packing’ of settlements in all areas of the landscape; the transformation in knowledge of clayland areas is particularly striking. These high-density pasts have far-reaching implications for the understanding of later prehistoric and Roman-period land-use and social relations.

Curriculum learning-based strategy for low-density archaeological mound detection from historical maps in India and Pakistan

This paper presents two algorithms for the large-scale automatic detection and instance segmentation of potential archaeological mounds on historical maps. Historical maps present a unique source of information for the reconstruction of ancient landscapes. The last 100 years have seen unprecedented landscape modifications with the introduction and large-scale implementation of mechanised agriculture, channel-based irrigation schemes, and urban expansion to name but a few. Historical maps offer a window onto disappearing landscapes where many historical and archaeological elements that no longer exist today are depicted. The algorithms focus on the detection and shape extraction of mound features with high probability of being archaeological settlements, mounds being one of the most commonly documented archaeological features to be found in the Survey of India historical map series, although not necessarily recognised as such at the time of surveying. Mound features with high archaeological potential are most commonly depicted through hachures or contour-equivalent form-lines, therefore, an algorithm has been designed to detect each of those features. Our proposed approach addresses two of the most common issues in archaeological automated survey, the low-density of archaeological features to be detected, and the small amount of training data available. It has been applied to all types of maps available of the historic 1″ to 1-mile series, thus increasing the complexity of the detection. Moreover, the inclusion of synthetic data, along with a Curriculum Learning strategy, has allowed the algorithm to better understand what the mound features look like. Likewise, a series of filters based on topographic setting, form, and size have been applied to improve the accuracy of the models. The resulting algorithms have a recall value of 52.61% and a precision of 82.31% for the hachure mounds, and a recall value of 70.80% and a precision of 70.29% for the form-line mounds, which allowed the detection of nearly 6000 mound features over an area of 470,500 km2, the largest such approach to have ever been applied. If we restrict our focus to the maps most similar to those used in the algorithm training, we reach recall values greater than 60% and precision values greater than 90%. This approach has shown the potential to implement an adaptive algorithm that allows, after a small amount of retraining with data detected from a new map, a better general mound feature detection in the same map.

Soil and spatial analyses in the assessment of the focal point of the extinct medieval royal burgh of Roxburgh

The ‘lost’ royal burgh of Roxburgh in the Scottish borders is arguably one of the most important archaeological settlement sites in Scotland of the medieval period. Although short-lived, being occupied as an urban centre for just around 300 years, in its heyday, it was a royal residence, jurisdictional and administrative seat, and regional focus of economic activity and international trade. Presently however, very little surviving above-ground trace remains of this once dynamic settlement. With a Scheduled Monument status (No. 4284), activity on-site is now restricted to prevent damage to the below-ground archaeology. This study explores the locale(s) of Roxburgh’s main thoroughfare in the Friars’ Haugh area during its occupation through the spatial analysis of soil data coupled with historical records and findings from past research studies. The aim of the study is two-fold; (1) to determine the viability in the investigation of archaeological landscapes of standard, relatively non-invasive low-cost analytical techniques applied in the study, as permissible on sites with Scheduled Monument status, (2) in synergy with previous geophysical, and geoarchaeological studies carried out on the site, provide new evidence and/or corroborate the existing knowledge base in advancing the discourse on the history and development of Roxburgh. The study area encompasses the putative location of the main street as identified in a previous study by GSB Prospection and Wessex Archaeology. Suites of soil markers (phosphorus concentration, magnetic susceptibility, organic carbon content, and soil pH), were used to demarcate zones of high to low activity through quantitative changes in the concentration and/or value of these markers. Potable optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) analysis was used to investigate depositional history that revealed a progressive accumulation of materials of proximal origins, however, evidence of mixing of sediments is discernible. The spatial distribution of soil markers across the site shows two zones of substantial enhancement, revealing potentially a second thoroughfare on the west of the site (site B), in addition to the main thoroughfare on site A which overlaps with the site identified in previous studies.

DIGITAL HERITAGE AND PRESERVATION: AERIAL PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND LIDAR APPLIED TO THE MAPPING OF KAPAYUWANAN, INDIGENOUS PAIWAN SETTLEMENTS, TAIWAN

Abstract. This paper discusses the application of UAV and Terrestrial photogrammetry and LiDAR for mapping Taiwanese indigenous Settlements. The relics of Taiwanese indigenous settlements with thousands history are widely distributed in deep forestry mountains with inconvenient transportation. Kapayuwanan is the original place of paiwan indigenous people. Firstly, UAV photogrammetry is applied for mapping supayuan settlement of 8 hectares and those stone houses invisible under dense forest are drawn by in-site investigation. Then UAV photogrammetry and LiDAR are used to document the larger area of Kapayuwanan of 36 hectares and terrestrial Lidar for the area of 1.2 hectares sorted out. It can not only obtain the accurate topography, landscape with architecture but also reveal the hidden settlements, such as roads, stone slab houses, irrigation landscape under the dense forest. Accuracy mapping is fundamental for future preservation planning and virtual conservation.Shaping the future is from revealing the Past. That is crucial to document, understand, and preserve the precious cultural heritage. Documenting with immediacy, high resolution, high manoeuvrability become possible because of the rapid developments of digital technologies in the recent two decades. It’s astonishing, in the case of Taiwanese indigenous archaeological settlements sites, UAV photogrammetry and Lidar can successfully reveal the relics of stone slab houses in such a sever site – steep slopes, dense forestry with plantation in biodiversity. The reveal of settlements with reclaimed landscape verifies oral transmission of indigenous people as well . Digital technologies support the contention of archaeology, anthropology, heritage preservation, and cultural landscape, indispensable for revealing the past and shaping the future.

Explaining population booms and busts in Mid-Holocene Europe

Archaeological evidence suggests that the population dynamics of Mid-Holocene (Late Mesolithic to Initial Bronze Age, ca. 7000–3000 BCE) Europe are characterized by recurrent booms and busts of regional settlement and occupation density. These boom-bust patterns are documented in the temporal distribution of 14C dates and in archaeological settlement data from regional studies. We test two competing hypotheses attempting to explain these dynamics: climate forcing and social dynamics leading to inter-group conflict. Using the framework of spatially-explicit agent-based models, we translated these hypotheses into a suite of explicit computational models, derived quantitative predictions for population fluctuations, and compared these predictions to data. We demonstrate that climate variation during the European Mid-Holocene is unable to explain the quantitative features (average periodicities and amplitudes) of observed boom-bust dynamics. In contrast, scenarios with social dynamics encompassing density-dependent conflict produce population patterns with time scales and amplitudes similar to those observed in the data. These results suggest that social processes, including violent conflict, played a crucial role in the shaping of population dynamics of European Mid-Holocene societies.

The Yabalakly-1 Settlement: New Materials on the Chiyalik Culture of the Southern Urals

Purpose. The Chiyalik archaeological culture was isolated at the end of 1970. Cultural monuments are located on the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan, in the eastern part of the Republic of Tatarstan, the southeastern part of Udmurtia, in the south of the Perm Region, the north of the Chelyabinsk region, the southern part of the Sverdlovsk region and the western part of the Kurgan region.Results. The article presents the results of the work carried out on the Dema River in 2021 by the integrated Golden Horde archaeological expedition. As a result of the conducted surveys, the archaeological settlement of Yabalakly-1 was revealed. It has been established that the monument is single-layer, its cultural layers contain a large number of horse, cow, sheep and dog bones, fragments of cast-iron cauldrons, as well as fragments of pottery and glazed Kashin ceramics.Conclusion. The absence of pig bones is important, since it indicates the practice of Islam. Hunting and fishing played a secondary role in providing the archaeological settlements inhabitants with meat. The obtained archaeological material (fragments of large earthenware pot, glazed Kashin ceramics, stirrup, and parts of cast-iron cauldrons) allows us to date the monument within the 14th century. Similar villages are located within the Southern Urals in the valleys of the Dema, Chermasan, Karmasan rivers, etc.

Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: a bioarchaeological dataset for the study of early medieval agriculture (Data paper)

The FeedSax project combined bioarchaeological data with evidence from settlement archaeology to investigate how, when and why the expansion of arable farming occurred between the 8th-13th centuries in England. It has generated and released a vast, multi-faceted archaeological dataset both to underpin its own published findings and to support further research.

Archaeological GIS Modelling and Spatial Analysis in the Vicinity of Polgár from the Neolithic to Middle Ages

Review article of a PhD thesis submitted in 2022 to the Archeology Doctoral Programme, Doctoral School of History, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, under the supervision of Alexandra Anders and András Bödőcs.The main aim of the PhD dissertation was to examine the archaeological settlement network, its structure, and changes from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages using a statistical and GIS-based approach. The study area is located on the left bank of the Tisza River.

UAV Image-Based Plan Drawing Method in Submerged Terrestrial Archaeological Settlements: The case of Kibotos

Documentation with drawing and photography is one of the most important stages in archaeological excavations and surveys. It takes a long time to draw walls by stone by stone during the excavations. Carrying out these studies on land that does not belong to human habitats, such as underwater, is an activity that requires extra effort, time, and experience. This article will examine the possibility of drawing the plans of the structures unearthed or detected in the archaeological underwater excavations and surface surveys in shallow waters with the help of aerial photographs in a shorter time and with less effort. The research results show that the photograph-based archaeological plan drawing is an excellent and suitable method for shallow water archaeological excavation and surveys. It reveals that it can save time and labour in surveys and rescue excavations where time is limited.

New Absolute Chronological Constraints to La Playa (Sonoran Desert) Archaeology between the American Southwest and Mesoamerica—From Long Period Human Resilience to Apparent Abandonment

Sonoran Desert archaeological settlement is one of the most representative sites in Northwestern Mexico/Southwestern United States of the Early Agriculture period because of various cultural processes involved, such as the introduction of the first cultigens and the construction of Pit Houses. These early desert village settlements used geomorphological features of the local landscape to facilitate their sophisticated form of agriculture. Most of the features and artifacts at the site are associated with the Early Agricultural period of 3150-1900 cal B.P., while most occupation dates are in the Cienega phase (2800-1900 cal B.P.). Later stages are poorly documented because of the apparent reduction in population, less marked archaeological features, and extreme erosion processes. Systematic archaeological excavation revealed evidence of completely burned Pit Houses. We analyzed 56 samples belonging to four Pit Houses and one different combustion feature (Kiln or Horno, as they are locally known) in different areas of the settlement. The experimental procedure included continuous susceptibility vs. temperature measurements and step-wise alternating field demagnetizations. Only 36 samples yielded technically acceptable determinations that allowed the determination of archaeomagnetic directions. Statistically indistinguishable results were obtained from all five studied features. This finding reinforces archaeological evidence of ritual-related paraphernalia and/or apparent abandonment or, at least, migration.

Geostatistical and geoarchaeological study of Holocene floodplains and site distributions on the Sha‐Ying River Basin, Central China

AbstractGeostatistics has become a powerful method for investigating complex spatial variations of prehistoric settlements in floodplains and other geomorphological settings. A geoarchaeological drilling program that covers most of the Sha‐Ying River Basin provides a rare opportunity with unusually detailed environmental data to contest and develop the geostatistics method, which proves to be essential, in combination with archaeological data, to understand long‐term (9000–2500 B.P.) patterns of human inhabitation and adaption to volatile floodplain environments in eastern Central China. We analysed the variography and multivariate ordination of the borehole data and explored the complexities of landform evolution, with reference to sedimentation processes and soil development in the floodplain of the Sha‐Ying River. The recurrent impact of river floods on regional landforms is manifested by spatial‐autocorrelated properties over distances up to 10 km, sometimes with directional trends. We then developed a model of landform evolution through kriging and compared the model with detailed reconstruction of archaeological settlement patterns. Our results illustrate long‐term socio‐environmental dynamics by which human communities first populated and then adapted in diverse ways to the changing floodplain environments from the early to middle Holocene. This improved method will have far‐reaching implications for future studies on similar geomorphological settings across vast floodplains of Central China and other global regions.

David and Goliath: Giants and Dwarfs in Settlement Archaeology — Editorial

David and Goliath: Giants and Dwarfs in Settlement Archaeology — Editorial