Site Catchment Research Articles

Understanding mammal resource choices and subsistence strategies during the Holocene Climate Optimum: Integration of evidence from palaeodistribution modelling, animal bones and archaeological remains in the farming-pastoral ecotone, northern China

The farming-pastoral ecotone (FPE) is considered to be the most sensitive and unstable area in relation to the surrounding environment in northern China. The ecological improvement during the Holocene Climate Optimum (HCO) profoundly influenced livelihoods and adaptability of early sedentary communities. The reason for diverse utilization of mammals and specific subsistence strategies among different FPE sites remains unclear due to the lack of reconstructions demonstrating explicit spatial distribution and abundance of species that people ate. In five case studies during HCO from FPE in China, I illustrate what palaeodistribution modelling powered by Species Distribution Models (SDMs) tells us about three different large and medium-sized mammal species, and how the integration of this information with Site Catchment Analysis (SCA) helps to understand resource choices and subsistence strategies in these different sites. Analysis indicates that reduced residential mobility at FPE during HCO is associated with the spatial distribution of mammals within site catchments. Inhabitants of the ecotone may adapt to distinct mammal resources by long-distance logistical mobility, high residential mobility, improving technological flexibility, or intensifying the utilization of certain wild species. This evidence provides valuable insights into the highly flexible adaptability of early sedentism in FPE.

Assessing readiness to use electronic health record data for outcome ascertainment in clinical trials – A case study

BackgroundVariable data quality poses a challenge to using electronic health record (EHR) data to ascertain acute clinical outcomes in multi-site clinical trials. Differing EHR platforms and data comprehensiveness across clinical trial sites, especially if patients received care outside of the clinical site's network, can also affect validity of results. Overcoming these challenges requires a structured approach. MethodsWe propose a framework and create a checklist to assess the readiness of clinical sites to contribute EHR data to a clinical trial for the purpose of outcome ascertainment, based on our experience with the Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) study, which enrolled 5451 participants in 86 primary care practices across 10 healthcare systems (sites). ResultsThe site readiness checklist includes assessment of the infrastructure (i.e., size and structure of the site's healthcare system or clinical network), data procurement (i.e., quality of the data), and cost of obtaining study data. The checklist emphasizes the importance of understanding how data are captured and integrated across a site's catchment area and having a protocol in place for data procurement to ensure consistent and uniform extraction across each site. ConclusionsWe suggest rigorous, prospective vetting of the data quality and infrastructure of each clinical site before launching a multi-site trial dependent on EHR data. The proposed checklist serves as a guiding tool to help investigators ensure robust and unbiased data capture for their clinical trials. Original trial registration numberNCT02475850

Site Catchment Analysis of the Harappan Site Mitathal

Site Catchment Analysis of the Harappan Site Mitathal

Pola Keletakkan Masjid di Kalimantan Bagian Selatan

The mosque is a place of worship for Muslims. The existence of the mosque helps in the spread of Islamic teachings. In the Kalimantan region, there are mosques that are used as a place of worship as well as a means of spreading Islam, namely the Sultan Suriansyah Mosque, Kyai Gede Mosque, and Pusaka Banua Lawas Mosque. These three mosques are located in southern Kalimantan. The aim of this research is to find out the pattern of inclination towards the three mosques. This study used a qualitative type with observational data collection at the Sultan Suriansyah Mosque and a literature review at the Kyai Gede Mosque and the Banua Lawas Heritage Mosque. The analysis used in this research is Site Catchment Analysis or Site Coverage Analysis according to Roper (1979) in this analysis there is a relationship between site location and site function. Data analysis was carried out in this study to compare the positions of the three mosques. The results of this study obtained a picture of the layout of the three mosques which were influenced by river culture. In addition, river culture also influences settlement patterns, economic centers, government centers, and the spread of Islam

Site Catchment Analysis of Mahalena Cave of Rajagala, Sri Lanka: With Special Reference to the Prehistoric and Anuradhapura Phase

The systematic archaeological survey was carried out around the 0-10 km radius of Mahalena cave site. Documentation of natural resources available within the estimated radius. A few satellite settlements or supportive settlements were identified within the radius of Mahalena cave. The chief aim of this research is to understand the suitability of the landscape and natural resources available within the vicinity of this archaeological site. Mahalena cave site was subjected to large-scale excavation for several seasons by Sri Lankan and Indian archaeologists. A Few seasons of detailed excavations have provided us with sufficient data to study the resource exploitation pattern around the Mahalena cave. The study of the resource exploitation pattern or site catchment study is one of the important tools to reconstruct the economy of ancient settlers of any particular region. Resources lying within the economic range of individual archaeological sites support ancient inhabitants for their day-to-day living. The current research will be helpful in identifying suitable factors which lead the Prehistoric and Early Historic inhabitants of the Mahalena cave to choose this particular location for their settlement.

Computational approaches towards the understanding of past boundaries: A case study based on archaeological and historical data in a hilly region in Germany

Abstract Boundaries at different scales or in different cultural contexts vary in permeability, fuzziness, and continuity. The contribution of methods from the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) toolbox used in archaeology for the understanding of boundaries is explored in a case study based on known boundaries that are located in a hilly region east of Cologne, Germany. The known political and religious boundaries date back to the 16th and early 17th century. Furthermore, a linguistic boundary traversing the study area is well-known. A classification of the reliability of the political boundaries is presented based on evidence from different sources including archaeological sites. A traditional GIS method for delimiting territories is Voronoi polygon generation, also known as Thiessen polygons. A variant uses least-cost distances, accounting for costs of movement. A site catchment of a settlement consists of all locations that can be reached by expending a given cost limit. Both the initial Voronoi computations as well as the site catchments failed to reconstruct a significant proportion of the known past boundaries. Therefore, the association of the known boundaries with rivers, ridges, and modern parish boundaries was tested and found significant. In contrast, poor soils and voids identified by least-cost Kernel Density Estimation (LC-KDE) of 16th century settlement locations are no preferred locations of past boundaries. Boundaries of Voronoi polygons based on modified cost models taking the association of past boundaries with ridges, rivers, and modern boundaries into account reconstructed about 27 % of the confirmed past political boundaries successfully. The association of the linguistic boundary with the features mentioned above is insignificant. Diagnostic place names are the traits forming the basis of Voronoi diagrams and LC-KDE applied in archaeological studies for reconstructing boundaries. Considering the uneven distribution and fairly low number of traits, the results of these two approaches are satisfactory.

Modeling Greek city-states’ territories with Least-Cost Site Catchment analysis: A case study of Lato, Crete

Least-Cost Site Catchment (LCSC) analysis is a common tool to model the territories of polities of homogeneous size in a Geographical Information System (GIS) environment. With coexisting very small and larger city-states, the context of Hellenistic (323–66 BC) Crete, Greece, does not allow to model directly city-states’ territories with LCSC analysis. This paper proposes to model subunits of equivalent size within the Hellenistic territories with LCSC and combine them to delimit city-states’ territories. Based on the Normalpolis model, which describes early Greek city-states as autonomous villages that can grow and integrate neighbor cities as secondary centers, the archaic city-states of the 7th century BCE are tested as subunits of later Hellenistic city-states. The city-state of Lato (eastern Crete, Greece) appears to be a valuable case study to test such a modeling approach because late 2nd century BCE epigraphical documents provide information on its borderlines. Various cost functions from the archaeological GIS literature are tested to find the most suitable to model Greek city-states’ boundaries. The results of this study indicate that LCSC analysis applied to archaic city-states is an efficient tool to model the territories of Hellenistic city-states. This paper also suggests that the borders of city-states in the 2nd century BCE followed borders that delimited the territories of independent polities in the archaic period. Territorial units delimited at the birth of the city-state organization appear then to remain mostly in place until the end of the Hellenistic period, former archaic city-states becoming subunits of Hellenistic city-states assembled depending on successive conquests.

The territory of Hippos: Its settlement dynamics and development from the Hellenistic to the Late Roman period as seen through spatial analytical methods

In this article we present an attempt to reconstruct the agricultural, economic, and administrative territory of the city of Hippos of the Decapolis from the Hellenistic to the Late Roman periods. The aim was to test models of development of territories proposed for Greek poleis and to apply approaches relating the site catchment and central place theory to the study of territoriality of Hellenistic and Roman cities in the southern Levant. The research methodology encompasses spatial analyses of the settlement patterns, using computation of travel times, average neighbour analysis and kernel density analysis, applied to archaeological heritage data. The archaeological data and geo-spatial analyses are supplemented with historical–geographical sources and new archaeological data and are incorporated into the local and regional context.

Site catchment analysis of Eneolithic–medieval settlements in the Central Baraba Lowland

Site catchment analysis of Eneolithic–medieval settlements in the Central Baraba Lowland

Mapping the Villagescape: An Archaeological Approach to Political Ecology Along the Falemme River, AD 1000–1900

Historical narratives in Upper Senegal largely center on precolonial statecraft, long-distance trade, and ethno-religious mobilization. Drawing on the perspective of political ecology, we examine how these regional processes intersected with village life through local relations to land. Specifically, we chart the long-term dynamics of settlements and their catchments along the Falemme River between the states Gajaaga and Bundu, centered on the Senegal confluence, and a shifting frontier with the non-state societies of Bambuk to the south. This involves first integrating site data from our independent archaeological surveys of the Lower and Middle Falemme study areas into a GIS database for regional analysis of settlements patterns during the second millennium AD. We then compare these patterns with site catchments for surface soils classified from multispectral satellite imagery (Landsat 8 OLI-TIRS) to model everyday access to cultivable land. Our results challenge state-centric narratives of Upper Senegal by suggesting that everyday experiences of village life along the Falemme River were more firmly grounded in local concerns for land and subsistence production than in regional politics of statecraft and frontier.

Reflections on the term Micoquian in Western and Central Europe. Change in criteria, changed deductions, change in meaning, and its significance for current research

The primary objective of this contribution is to show the intricate ways of over 100 years of research concerning the term Micoquian and its multiple shifts in meaning. A detailed analysis of the course of the research history has made it possible to identify several tendencies of shifting meaning. This concerned both its position within the chronology, its spatial extent, and decisive assemblage components. The term Micoquian has been used to describe complexes with very different characteristics. Chronologically, both assemblages dating before, during, and after the last interglacial period were referred to as Micoquian. To avoid difficulties in understanding the term, different names for the generic units of the respective assemblage units have been proposed from time to time. Due to the reflections on the research history, it is possible to investigate the question of whether and to what extent the term Micoquian should continue to be used and what significance is attached to it today, and to what extent it appears necessary to pursue other approaches to the classification of the Middle Paleolithic record. In conclusion, a multidisciplinary approach is proposed (including lithic, faunal, radiometric, site catchment, and/or settlement dynamic analysis) to build a multifaceted framework that is able to form clusters of similarities. The formerly defined generic units (called technocomplexes, facies, groups, space–time units, and so on) are seen purely as umbrella terms to structure the Paleolithic record, without claiming to reflect the former Paleolithic reality. With the addition of a tight chronological corset, the definitions of technocomplexes (by using lithic, faunal, and possibly floral data) could allow small, manageable space–time units to be formed and then compared with one another.

Feasting and Mobility in Iron Age Ireland: Multi-isotope analysis reveals the vast catchment of Navan Fort, Ulster

Navan Fort is an iconic prehistoric Irish ceremonial centre and the legendary capital of Ulster. The fort has produced an exceptional pig-dominated faunal assemblage that also contained a barbary macaque skull. Dating from the 4th to 1st century BC, it is likely to be a ceremonial feasting centre that may have drawn people and their animals from across Ulster and beyond. This study uses a multi-isotope (87Sr/86Sr, δ34S, δ13C, δ15N) approach to identify non-local animals and reconstruct site catchment. New biosphere mapping means that isotope data can be more confidently interpreted and the combination of strontium and sulphur analysis has the potential to estimate origins. In the absence of human remains, fauna provide the best proxy for human movement. Results for the 35 analysed animals are wide-ranging, especially in terms of strontium (0.707–0.715), which has the largest range for an Irish site. Sulphur values are more restricted (13.1‰−17.1‰) but are high in the context of British and Irish data. Results provide clear evidence for animals (and thus people) coming from across Ulster and beyond, demonstrating the site’s wide catchment. Navan Fort was clearly a major ceremonial centre with far-reaching influence and hosted feasts that drew people and animals from afar.

Исследование ресурсных зон поселений Кисловодской котловины

The publication focuses on 2018 findings of a comprehensive soil-archaeological survey of the multi-temporal settlements catchment within Kislovodsk Depression. The most in-depth study was conducted in the vicinity of Podkumskoye 3 fortification (5th — 8th centuries AD), where 100 soil sections were laid along a regular network with 50 m step at different distances from the habitat zone. In the soil sections, archaeological material was recorded layer by layer, the description of soil profiles and sampling for chemical and microbiological tests were carried out. The samples were tested for active microbial biomass, urease activity, saprotrophs, magnetic susceptibility and phosphates.
 This paper deals only with the findings of ceramics as a marker of farming practiced by ancient and medieval people living in this site. In total, about 2,380 fragments of pottery with a total weight of about 9 kg were discovered. A preliminary analysis of the spatial distribution of ceramics was carried out using the geostatistical module of ArcGIS software. It clearly showed different areas of farming in the Koban and Early Alanian areas. Now, the team is working on the analysis of the obtained material and soil samples for the detailed reconstruction of the site catchment in terms of farming.

Sacred Landscapes and the Territoriality of Iron Age Cypriot Polities: The Applicability of GIS

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the relationship between sanctuaries and the territoriality of the Iron Age polities of Cyprus. The sanctuary site of Vavla-Kapsalaes is used as a case study to test hypotheses regarding the connection between extra-urban sacred space and the formation of political and cultural identities. A combination of archaeological and geographic data is implemented in geographic information system (GIS) analyses in order to contextualize this sanctuary in its political, economic, cultural, and symbolic landscapes. Beyond the discipline of Cypriot archaeology, this contribution is of significance to Mediterranean archaeology more broadly since it deals with landscape archaeology and the application of GIS approaches to trace both site catchments and networks. In addition, use of the concepts and approaches of landscape archaeology reveals the diachronic significance of religious sites in changing political environments in the ancient Mediterranean.

Lower Magdalenian lithic raw material provisioning: A diachronic view from El Mirón cave (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria, Spain)

Paleolithic archaeologists have a longstanding interest in temporal change in prehistoric human behavior, and have often identified changes between archaeological periods based on sampling limitations. This analysis focuses on the Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian period in El Mirón cave, where archaeologists have been able to subdivide the ~33cm thick Level 17 palimpsest into 13 comparable units that provide insight into human behavioral change within an archaeological period. The authors focus on lithic raw material provisioning as a window into changing human-landscape relationships. The Level 17 sublevel lithic assemblages testify that hunter-gatherers decreased their use of presumably local (based on El Mirón project surveys) mudstones and quartzites in favor of regional flint resources. Additionally, portions of exotic flints from southern France and the Ebro Basin increase over the course of the Lower Magdalenian, possibly indicating gradually intensifying social contacts. Microstratigraphic units provide insight into dynamic “Magdalenian” landscapes and how lithic provisioning related to hunter-gatherers' territories, site catchments, regional mobility, and social relationships.

Investigating the Influence of Different DEMs on GIS-Based Cost Distance Modeling for Site Catchment Analysis of Prehistoric Sites in Andalusia

The overall objective of this work is to apply GIS-based cost distance modeling (CDM) to site catchment modeling and analysis of prehistoric (Solutrean) sites in Andalusia. The implementation of a GIS-method for slope-based CDM was explained in detail, so that it can be replicated easily in future studies. Additional cost components, vegetation and stream networks, were included in the method. The presented CDM approach uses slope rasters as input data, which were derived from digital elevation models (DEMs). Various DEMs that differ in cell size, accuracy and other characteristics can be applied to this method. Thus, a major goal of this work is to investigate the influence different publicly available DEMs (SRTM, ASTER GDEM, EU-DEM, official 5-m/10-m cell size DEMs) have on the results of GIS-based CDM. While the investigation was conducted on sites from different chronocultural periods, a case study was performed on Solutrean sites in order to test the CDM approach by producing actual results and then comparing and interpreting them from an archaeological perspective. The results of the DEM evaluation with resampled horizontal resolutions show a clear influence of the DEM cell size on the modeled catchment area sizes. The investigation also indicates that this influence can be superimposed by other factors, such as noise and residuals of filtered anthropogenic features, when using DEMs of different origins.

Constraining the annual groundwater contribution to the water balance of an agricultural floodplain using radon: The importance of floods

AbstractThe water balance of drained floodplains is highly dynamic with complex groundwater–surface water interactions operating over varying spatial and temporal scales. Here we hypothesize that the majority of groundwater discharge will follow flood events in a modified wetland. To test this hypothesis, we developed a detailed water balance that quantifies the contribution of groundwater discharge to the annual water budget of an extensively drained agricultural floodplain. A clear relationship between surface water radon measurements and groundwater level indicated alternating connection–disconnection dynamics between the drains and shallow groundwater. This relationship was used to develop a radon mass balance to quantitatively model groundwater discharge continuously throughout the year. Groundwater discharge varied by four orders of magnitude over the study period, with daily average rates ranging from 0 to 27,200 m3 d−1, peaking just a few hours after floods receded. Flood events occurred only 12% of the time yet contributed 72–76% of the total groundwater discharge. During flood recession periods, aerial groundwater discharge rates reached up to 325 cm d−1 which were some of the highest rates ever estimated. We proposed that the high drainage density of this site (12.4 km constructed drains km−2 catchment area) enhanced groundwater discharge during wet periods due to increased connectivity with the soil. Overall, groundwater discharge contributed 30–80% to the total surface water discharge. This study offers insight into the dynamic behavior of groundwater within an extensively drained floodplain, and the importance of capturing flood events to quantify total groundwater contribution to floodplain water balances.

Late Holocene Aboriginal shellfish production strategies in northern Australia: Insights from Prunung (Red Beach), Weipa, Cape York Peninsula

<span>Recent investigations into the role of shell mounds in late Holocene Aboriginal economies in northern Australia have focussed on one of the key constituents in mound sites: the intertidal bivalve, </span><em>Tegillarca granosa</em><span> (formerly </span><em>Anadara granosa</em><span>). Various researchers have suggested that shell mounds were constructed during production activities that were predominantly oriented towards exploitation of estuarine or marine ecosystems, with other resources being of secondary or supplementary importance during these times. Proponents of this model concede that it requires ongoing evaluation in relation to new quantitative data on mound composition, stratigraphy and chronology from shell mound sites across a range of different environmental contexts. At Weipa, in western Cape York Peninsula, recent research has been oriented toward collecting new data necessary for investigating the role of mound sites and the production strategies associated with their formation. In this paper, the results of excavations and analysis of a series of shell mounds at Prunung (Red Beach), to the north of Weipa, are presented. These results support the view that mound construction took place in the context of production activities strategically oriented towards intertidal flats, rather than broadly-based foraging within local site catchments, or a more generalised ‘estuarine’ orientation.</span>

Rising social complexity, agricultural intensification, and the earliest rice paddies on the Loess Plateau of northern China

Geoarchaeological studies of landscapes immediately adjacent to archaeological sites can contribute information on the direct impact of small-scale societies on their associated landscapes. This direct connection allows us to understand aspects of the motivations, economic decision-making and agricultural strategies and how they affected local site catchments. The origin and spreading of farming communities onto the Loess Plateau of northern China provides a good example of this. We recorded sediment profiles that were immediately adjacent to the site of Huizui in the Yiluo River Basin. Here we identified evidence for human land-use beginning with the early Mid-Holocene deposits which are consistent with stable hillslope soils, indicating that the first mixed forager-millet farmers of the Peiligang Neolithic had a very light ecological footprint on the landscape. This is in contrast to the later middle Neolithic Yangshao Period farmers. Sediments from the Yangshao Period revealed paleolandscape and phytolith evidence for the earliest Neolithic paddy farming well outside of the natural habitat of wild rice. In addition to evidence for massive deforestation and soil erosion, a 15 m deep sediment sequence containing sets of gravels (beginning ca. 7200 cal BP) and gleyed soils dating from ca. 6600 cal BP, contained rice phytoliths, archaeological waste suggesting manuring, and micromorphological data indicating trampling. These signs of intensive landscape management go hand-in-hand with rapidly increasing social complexity.

ANALISIS CAKUPAN SITUS-SITUS PERMUKIMAN NEOLITIK DI BANYUWANGI SELATAN

Economic calculations as cost-benefit ratios are used by prehistoric people in exploiting their natural resources. This paper will discuss about landscape and natural resources to reconstruct the site catchment area which explored by Neolithic people at South Banyuwangi in prehistoric times. In the Site Catchment Analysis for traditional farmer, a preliminary of 1-km radius site catchment zone is the most basic or regular subsistence resources, and 5-km radii is largely the maximum limits of radius distance. Based on hypotheses of catchment zone, we analyzed its natural resource inside eachcatchment zone. This analysis conducted on landscape conditions (hills, plains, steep cliffs), water sources (springs, rivers and water basins). Comparison between environmental conditions inside the catchment zone and artifact findings (from survey and excavation work) is obtained to predict the site catchment pattern of Neolithic settlement sites at South Banyuwangi.