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Incorporating Variation in Occupation Span into Settlement-Pattern Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert E. Dewar
Robert E. Dewar*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, U-176, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269
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Abstract

Settlement patterns recovered by archaeologists differ fundamentally from synchronic settlement patterns analyzed by geographers since they are a static record of occupations that may often have had differing periods of use in the past. Many maps of the “settlement pattern” of prehistoric phases show more occupations than were ever simultaneously occupied. After discussing some of the problems this can cause, I describe a way of characterizing past settlement dynamics and a method for estimating (1) the mean number of likely simultaneous occupations for a region and (2) phase-to-phase differences in mean occupation span. The method is illustrated by the analysis of settlement data from the Ixtapalapa region in the Basin of Mexico.

Résumé

Résumé

Los patrones de asentamiento recuperados por arqueólogos difieren fundamentalmente de los patrones de asentamiento sincrónicos analizados por geógrafos, ya que aquellos son registros estáticos de ocupaciones que frecuentemente pudieron haber tenido diferentes períodos de uso en el pasado. Muchos mapas del “patrón de asentamiento” de fases prehistóricas muestran mayor cantidad de asentamientos que los que fueron simultáneamente ocupados en momento alguno. Tras discutir algunos de los problemas que esta situácion puede ocasionar, describo una forma de caracterizar las dinámicas de asentamiento del pasado y un método para estimar: (1) el promedio de probables ocupaciones simultáneas para una región y (2) las diferencias entre fases en cuanto a intervalos medios de ocupación. El método es ilustrado mediante el análisis de datos de asentamiento provenientes de la región de Ixtapalapa en la cuenca de México.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , October 1991 , pp. 604 - 620
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1991

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