Definition of Settlement Patterns

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a technology used in archaeology since the beginning of the 21st century, is a remote sensing technique performed using lasers connected to a helicopter or drone. Lasers visually penetrate the vegetative cover, mapping huge colonies and revealing previously unknown details that can be provided with the basic truth. Successful use of LiDAR technology included mapping the landscapes of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England, and previously unknown Mayan sites in Mesoamerica, all of which provide information on regional studies of settlement patterns. A grouped rural settlement is a rural settlement where a number of families live in close proximity to each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings. The layout of this type of village reflects historical circumstances, the type of land, economic conditions and local cultural peculiarities. Rural settlement models range from compact and linear to circular and grid-connected. This form consists of a central open space surrounded by structures. These localities are variously called Rundling, Runddorf, Rundlingsdorf, Rundplatzdorf or Platzdorf (Germany), Circulades and Bastides (France) or Kraal (Africa). There are no contemporary historical documents on the founding of these circular villages, but a consensus has emerged in recent decades. The current dominant theory is that roundings were developed more or less at the same time in the 12th century, following a model developed by the Germanic nobility as suitable for small groups of mainly Slavic settlers. Also in the Middle Ages, the villages of Languedoc, in France, were often located on hills and built in a circle for defensive purposes (Figures 12.3 and 12.4).

Although far from German territory, Romania has a unique and circular German village. Located in southwestern Romania, Charlottenburg is the only round village in the country. The village was founded around 1770 by Swabians who came to the area as part of the second wave of German colonization. In the middle of the village there is a covered fountain surrounded by a perfect circle of mulberry trees, behind which are houses with stables, barns and their gardens in the outer ring. Due to its uniqueness, the magnificent plan of the village from the Baroque period has been preserved as a historical monument (Figure 12.5). Chart 12.3 | Bastide en France Author| User „Chensiyuan“ source | | Wikimedia Commons CC BY SA 4.0 Figure 12.4 | Kraal – A circular village in Africa Author | | user source „hp.baumeler“ | Wikimedia Commons CC BY SA 4.0 Figure 12.5 | Charlottenburg, Romania Author | User of German Wikipedia „Eddiebw“ Source | | Wikimedia Commons CC BY SA 3.0 A central regulation occurs in a circular form, with buildings mainly concentrated around a common center such as a road junction, park, or rest area. Most major cities are central, suggesting that they are well planned. Nucleation occurs through: The linear form consists of buildings along a road, river, dike or sea coast.

With the exception of mountain areas, the agricultural area extends behind the buildings. The river can provide people with a source of water and the availability of travel and communications. Parallel to the river, roads were built to access farms inland. In this way, a new linear stand can be created along each road, parallel to the original riparian stand (Figure 12.2). Figure 12.2 | Linear Village of Outlane Author | Mark Mercer Source | | Wikimedia Commons CC BY SA 2.0 When linear colonies follow a road, the road is often older than the colony. A dispersed type of dispersed rural settlement is usually found in a variety of landforms, such as foothills, highlands, and mountainous regions. But the true scattered village is located at the highest altitudes and reflects the rugged terrain and pastoral economic life. The population retains many traditional features in architecture, clothing and social customs, and the ancient market centers are still important. In the forests and on the pastures of the highlands, small plots and apartments are carved wherever physical conditions allow. Mining, livestock and agriculture are the main economic activities, the latter characterized by terraced cultivation on the slopes of the mountains.

Low mountain regions with hills and valleys covered with ploughed fields, vineyards, orchards and pastures usually have this type of stand. The first settlers who founded villages often lived together to protect themselves, make friends and share services. These early settlements adopted distinctive models based on the shape of the land around them. Here we see some examples of different settlement models. A dispersed colony is one of the main types of settlement models used to classify rural settlements. Unlike a central institution, dispersed establishments generally range from a dispersed model to an isolated model (Figure 12.6). In addition to Western Europe, scattered settlement patterns can be found in many other parts of the world, including North America. Figure 12.6 | Model regulation2 author | Corey Parson Source | | Although systematic settlement models and landscape studies are practiced in many different environments, archaeologists trying to study heavily vegetated areas have not been as successful as they could have been before modern imaging systems.

Various ways to penetrate gloom have been identified, including the use of high-resolution aerial photographs, underground testing, and, if acceptable, targeted cleaning of the growing landscape. Archaeologists refer to both studies of settlement models and studies of the settlement system, sometimes interchangeable. If there`s one difference, and you could discuss it, it may be that model studies look at the observable distribution of sites, while systems studies look at how people who live in those places interact: modern archaeology can`t really do one thing with the other. According to American archaeologist Jeffrey Parsons, settlement patterns in anthropology began with the work of anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan in the late 19th century, who was interested in how modern pueblo societies were organized. American anthropologist Julian Steward published his first paper on Native American social organization in the American Southwest in the 1930s: But the idea was first widely used by archaeologists Phillip Phillips, James A. Ford, and James B. Griffin in the Mississippi Valley in the United States during World War II, and by Gordon Willey in Peru`s Viru Valley in the first decades after the war. Brülisau, Switzerland, is an example of linear settlement. A settlement model refers to the shape of the colony seen from above. The forms of the first settlements were influenced by the surrounding landscape. They were also shaped by other factors, such as ownership of the land and whether or not the land was well suited for construction.

Some examples of settlement models are base, linear and dispersed settlements. Modern studies of settlement models combine with satellite imagery, background research, surface surveying, sampling, testing, artifact analysis, radiocarbon, and other dating techniques. And as you can imagine, after decades of research and technological advances, one of the challenges of studying settlement models has a very modern sound: big data. Now that GPS devices and artifacts and environmental analysis are all closely related, how do you analyze the huge amounts of data collected? A scattered pattern is one where isolated buildings are spread over a generally separate area of a few hundred meters without a central focus. It is usually an area that contains buildings and not a single colony. The population is weakly distributed in a dispersed colony.