![]() ![]() A benefit of this approach is that the relative importance of each factor can be calculated, thereby producing the rank order of these factors. They were able to offer inciteful explanations for the difference between the two kinds of structure. They found that the most important factors were precipitation and proximity to lakes for the mounds and temperature and proximity to rivers for the enclosures. ![]() ( 2016) examined separately the locations of mounds and enclosures created by mixed forager-farmers in Michigan to characterize these locations according to temperature, precipitation, elevation, and distance to lakes and rivers. ( 2020) examined the location of sites according to ten different criteria, measuring aspects of landscape, climate, productivity, and resources to reveal differences between the two groups in suitable locations as well as the relative importance of each factor in determining these locations. In a study of both foragers and farmers in the Southwest, Vernon et al. The result is the determination of a “signature” of the locations, allowing the determination of the environmental characteristics of greatest importance. This model assumes that sites at relatively low density are distributed according to the IFD expectations and analyzes their locations in terms of a suite of environmental factors. The ideal despotic distribution includes the impact of political differences on choices of locations when political elites can exclude others from the most suitable areas, as exemplified by studies of the Maya by Prufer (2017) and of European LBK agriculturalists by Shennan ( 2007).Īlthough the focus of this discussion is the IFD model and its variants, another recent approach to investigating settlement locations employs the maximum entropy model (Howey et al., 2016). The Allee effect recognizes that human activities can improve the suitability of occupied locations, thus increasing their ability to support growing populations by increasing their locational value (Weitzel & Codding, 2020). Two important variants of the model enlarge the applicability and potential of the IFD by addressing changes through time. These examples and others demonstrate the versatility and potential of this model. ( 2017) employed measures of good soils and permanent water, together with proximity to trade routes and constructed features such as monumental architecture. In a study of Maya settlements, Prufer et al. Jazwa and Collins-Elliott ( 2021) utilized three indices of agricultural potential within 10-km ranges, as well as distance to harbors to investigate historic settlements in Morocco. ( 2014) used a single index that combined properties of soil, vegetation, and water. ![]() In a study of pastoralist settlements in Cameroon, Moritz et al. ![]() Two environmental characteristics were utilized, moisture index and probability of cultivation, but they were examined as separate measures of suitability. Yaworsky and Codding ( 2018) used the IFD to examine the distribution of historical agricultural settlements in Utah. A later study in the same area (Jazwa et al., 2016) refined this approach by including water flow and drainage resilience and by adjusting their weights in the combined measure. ( 2009) examined drainage size, shoreline type and length, and nearby kelp forest area of coastal regions and utilized a weighted method of combining them into a measure of overall suitability. In a study of the northern Channel Islands of California, Kennett et al. In recent applications of this model, various environmental and socio-political characteristics have been used, based on historical or archaeological knowledge of the economic activities and political structure involved, and have applied different methods of combining them to arrive at suitability scores. Second, a decision must be made about how to measure and combine these characteristics to calculate a location’s suitability. First, sufficient knowledge of the economy is necessary in order to specify the suitable environmental characteristics. This approach has several requirements for use in archaeology. These locations are determined using various characteristics and actual site locations are compared to them. At its most basic, the model predicts that upon entering a new area, people are free to settle first in the locations most suitable for their economy. The ideal free distribution model (Fretwell & Lucas, 1969) and its variants have recently been usefully adopted into anthropology. ![]()
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