Archaeological Settlement Patterns
01 Oct 1972-Annual Review of Anthropology (Annual Reviews 4139 El Camino Way, P.O. Box 10139, Palo Alto, CA 94303-0139, USA)-Vol. 1, Iss: 1, pp 127-150
About: This article is published in Annual Review of Anthropology.The article was published on 1972-10-01. It has received 111 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Settlement (litigation).
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Abstract: Population growth is not an automatic tendency of either ancient or contemporary agrarian societies. It is not an autonomous “prime mover” which accounts for developmental episodes. Even when population problems occur it is wrong to assume that they will generally stimulate developmental innovations. Development is more apt to be stimulated by more effective demand and perceptions of new possibilities. Stresses due to shortages may actually reduce effective demand and inhibit development. Better approaches for understanding development are suggested.
265 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review highlights recurring calls for a social archaeology, and the degree to which, in such instances, social inference has been expressed in spatial terms, especially as these have recog- nized people's "decisions and dispositions" as shaping the archaeological record.
Abstract: Concerns with spatial dimensions and social inference have long histories in archaeology. However, the two histories are not always conjoined. This article considers changing understandings of space in archaeology in the last half century, and the variable nature of what "social" has denoted and connoted during that same span. The review highlights recurring calls for a social archaeol- ogy, and the degree to which, in such instances, social inference has been expressed in spatial terms, especially as these have recog- nized people's "decisions and dispositions" as shaping the archaeological record. Life histories of place receive special attention as ways of discerning the existence and social impact of such decisions and dispositions. These life histories constitute an arena in which archaeologists from diverse theoretical perspectives can offer complementary insights. Moreover, they exemplify ways in which social and spatial inferences in archaeology contribute to wider understanding of human experience. (Keywords: archaeology, social, space, place, life history)
129 citations
01 Jan 1981
TL;DR: In this article, the expanding role of surface assemblages in archaeological research is discussed and a number of limitations of using surface artifacts can be addressed by future research, such as fragile materials, stratigraphic relationships, intact feature information, and special samples are best obtained through selected excavation.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the expanding role of surface assemblages in archaeological research. Archaeologists have long used surface artifacts to locate sites, establish regional culture histories, and to determine where to excavate within sites. In recent years, this traditional role has been expanded to utilize surface phenomena for research problems that used to be exclusively studied through excavation. This expansion is manifested by increasing application of surface collection in cultural resource management and basic research projects and the development of documenting formation processes that create surface phenomena. Surface artifacts are useful in more situations and for more kinds of research problems than might commonly be appreciated. There are a number of limitations in using surface assemblages that can be addressed by future research. Surface materials usually represent the most durable artifact classes. More fragile materials, stratigraphic relationships, intact feature information, and special samples are best obtained through selected excavation. Precise temporal assessment of surface assemblages is limited. Further work is required to define more subtle stylistic attributes and refine physical–chemical techniques for direct age determination of artifacts.
123 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the social organization of raised field farming in one region of the Lake Titicaca Basin of the Andean altiplano, Bolivia, has been studied over a long-term perspective covering 2500 years.
121 citations
Cites background or result from "Archaeological Settlement Patterns"
...These systems were functionally similar to native raised field systems developed in other regions of the New World (Adams, 1983; Denevan, 1970; Gallagher et al., 1985; Matheny, 1976; Parsons, 1972; Riley and Freimuth, 1979; Turner and Denevan, 1985)....
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...Local communities, social groups, and political factions played key roles in the formation and collapse of many complex societies in the New World (Brumfiel, 1994; Joyce and Weller, 2005)....
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...Beginning with Gordon Willey s study of settlement systems in Peru, regional studies were foundational in emphasizing the importance of documenting all settlements, cultural features, and environmental conditions in a given landscape (e.g., Flannery, 1976; Parsons, 1972; Willey, 1953)....
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TL;DR: Interactions between lava flows, whose ages range from 3,000 to 226,000 years, and differences in rainfall create an environmental mosaic that constrained precontact Polynesian farming practices to a zone defined by aridity at low elevation and depleted soil nutrients at high elevation.
Abstract: Beginning ca. A.D. 1400, Polynesian farmers established permanent settlements along the arid southern flank of Haleakala Volcano, Maui, Hawaiian Islands; peak population density (43-57 persons per km2) was achieved by A.D. 1700-1800, and it was followed by the devastating effects of European contact. This settlement, based on dryland agriculture with sweet potato as a main crop, is represented by >3,000 archaeological features investigated to date. Geological and environmental factors are the most important influence on Polynesian farming and settlement practices in an agriculturally marginal landscape. Interactions between lava flows, whose ages range from 3,000 to 226,000 years, and differences in rainfall create an environmental mosaic that constrained precontact Polynesian farming practices to a zone defined by aridity at low elevation and depleted soil nutrients at high elevation. Within this productive zone, however, large-scale agriculture was concentrated on older, tephra-blanketed lava flows; younger flows were reserved for residential sites, small ritual gardens, and agricultural temples.
99 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this paper, a partial description and preliminary analysis of rural marketing in China is presented, where the authors show that marketing structures of the kind described here for China appear to be characteristic of the whole class of civilizations known as "peasant" or "traditional agrarian" societies.
Abstract: I set forth in this paper a partial description and preliminary analysis of rural marketing in China. This neglected topic has significance with ranges far beyond the disciplinary concerns of economics. It interests anthropologists in particular because marketing structures of the kind described here for China appear to be characteristic of the whole class of civilizations known as “peasant” or “traditional agrarian” societies. In complex societies of this important type, marketing structures inevitably shape local social organization and provide one of the crucial modes for integrating myriad peasant communities into the single social system which is the total society. The Chinese case would appear to be strategic for the comparative study of peasant marketing in traditional agrarian societies because the integrative task accomplished there was uniquely large; because the exceptional longevity and stability of Chinese society have allowed the marketing system in many regions to reach full maturity prior to the beginnings of modernization; and because available documentation of Chinese marketing over several centuries provides rich resources for the study of systemic development—of change within tradition.
552 citations
397 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the methodology most appropriate for the task of isolating and studying processes of cultural change and evolution is one which is regional in scope and executed with the aid of research designs based on the principles of probability sampling.
Abstract: It is argued that the methodology most appropriate for the task of isolating and studying processes of cultural change and evolution is one which is regional in scope and executed with the aid of research designs based on the principles of probability sampling. The various types of observational populations which archaeologists must study are discussed, together with an evaluation of the methodological differences attendant upon adequate and reliable investigation of each. Two basic sampling universes are discussed, the region and the site, together with their methodological and research-design peculiarities. These are used as a basis for discussion and past and current research programs are evaluated in terms of what are believed to be major limitations in obtaining the "facts" pertinent to studies of cultural processes.
376 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that the population of a prehistoric settlement can be very roughly estimated as of the order of one-tenth of the floor area in square meters.
Abstract: Abstract Total area of the dwelling floors and total population of the largest settlements of eighteen societies show a loglog regression which suggests that the population of a prehistoric settlement can be very roughly estimated as of the order of one-tenth the floor area in square meters.
355 citations