Environmental Influences on the Settlements Patterns of Communities in the Marshes of Iraq

In the field of residential community planning, one of the appropriate places to study the mutual influences between man and the environment, away from the influences, concepts and mechanisms of contemporary planning theories are isolated environments in rural areas, and the marshlands in Iraq represent one of these models. These areas still retain the planning patterns of residential communities for thousands of years. This research attempts to conduct a descriptive study of traditional settlement patterns, which relied on the capabilities of the surrounding areas to provide planning and architectural solutions based on the environmental factor. Establishing such a clear framework for these impacts can help in any future interventions or development processes in the region and ensure that any random or irregular interventions that may have occurred previously are not repeated. Which will preserve the components and sustainability of this ecosystem and maintain the harmony and integration between the elements of the architectural environment and the natural elements.

Pemilihan Lokasi Pusat-Pusat Pemerintahan di Kabupaten Ciamis Pada Abad XVI -XIX

Sundanese people have knowledge about settlement patterns called Warugan Lemah (WL). The WL describes the pattern of land and settlements and their good and bad effects. This study aims to discuss the implementation of WL in four government centers in the past in the Ciamis Regency area. The four government centers are Kawasen, Imbangara, Utama, and Bojonglopang. This study is descriptive in nature which begins with data collection through library research, field observations, and interviews. The next is data analysis and interpretation to produce conclusions. Based on the study, it was obtained an overview of the implementation of WL in the four government centers in the past in Ciamis Regency.

Opening a New Frontier in the Study of Neolithic Settlement Patterns of Eastern Thessaly, Greece

The Innovative Geophysical Approaches for the Study of Early Agricultural Villages of Neolithic Thessaly (ARISTEIA-IGEAN) Project made an extensive use of geospatial technologies in the study of the natural environment and social dynamics of Neolithic settlements within the coastal region of eastern Thessaly, Greece. The goal of the project was to offer a broad and non-destructive remote sensing coverage of a number of Neolithic settlements to study habitation practices that were developed in various ecological niches and to document site-specific cultural and environmental characteristics. The methods and techniques used in the IGEAN project included satellite remote sensing, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), ground-based geophysical surveys exploring new generation prospection instrumentation, and soil analyses. The manifold research agenda proved to be effective for the detailed mapping of soils in which archaeological residues of past occupation reside. The full open-access geospatial data is served online at http://igean.ims.forth.gr/. The IGEAN project exposed a large degree of variation in the occupation of the landscape and the usage of space in both small and large settlements. The study was able to capture an integrated image of the habitation settings and highlight the large degree of divergence in the intra-site settlement patterns of these agrarian societies. The synthesis of the results opens up further research questions regarding early agricultural villages of Neolithic Thessaly.

Human communities living in the central Campania Plain during eruptions of Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei

Archaeological and volcanological studies have revealed that eruptions of Neapolitan volcanoes have conditioned human settlement patterns since prehistoric times. The occurrence of high intensity explosive eruptions, interspersed with long periods of quiescence, has characterized the last 10 ka of activity of these volcanoes. Geoarchaeological studies, carried out in advance of investigations for the construction of the Rome-Naples and the new Naples-Bari railway lines, have made possible a detailed reconstruction of human presence in the central part of the Campania Plain up to the coastal strip, between the late Neolithic and the late Bronze Age. The examined chronological interval includes sequences of pyroclastic deposits erupted by both Campi Flegrei and Somma-Vesuvius, and paleosols with evidence of anthropic frequentation. Altogether, the geoarchaeological data have provided a detailed picture of human settlement and activities through time with a particular focus on a long period of quiescence of the two volcanoes and also during their intense activity.

Peopling Prehistoric Coastlines: Identifying Mid-Holocene Forager Settlement Strategies in Northern Norway

In circumpolar regions, coastlines offer rich constellations of diverse resources and have long been a focus of human habitation. Despite the rich archaeological records that are located along many northern coastlines, there is a relatively limited understanding of the range of factors that informed local settlement strategies. Northern Norway has one of the world’s longest and best-preserved archaeological records of coastal habitation due to post-glacial uplift. Occupation begins in the early Holocene and appears to peak in the mid-Holocene. Our aim in this paper is to investigate the constraints and opportunities that informed the mid-Holocene settlement patterns, between c. 5000 and 0 BC. We present new data that were generated by intensive field surveys and undertake a qualitative multi-scalar analysis of site-locational choices, evaluating the influences of geography, topography and seasonal resource availability. Having identified stretches of the rugged coast as uninhabitable, we proceeded with analyses of the rest of the coastline. Our results indicate that all major settlements were sited to provide safe boat landing, good vantage points and shelter from storms. From these habitation sites, boat technology would have provided flexible access to diverse resources that were available throughout the year, and within a limited travel radius. We also demonstrate that these settlement strategies contrast with the way that the same coastlines were inhabited by pioneering groups in the early Holocene but appear to have some similarities with mid-Holocene coastal settlement patterns in Newfoundland and the Aleutian Islands. Overall, our results suggest that the multiple resources available along northern coastlines often enabled populations to occupy relatively localized areas for long periods. Longer-range mobility and interaction may instead have been primarily driven by socio-political factors rather than subsistence needs.

La Peña del Castillo (Peñas de San Pedro, Albacete) Campaña de 2020

In this article, the results of the field season 2020 excavation in La Peña del Castillo (Peñas de San Pedro, Albacete) are presented. It is a site with a long and discontinuous time frame from the Late Bronze Age to the 19th century. The archaeological activities project aims to know the entity of the enclave and the different settlement patterns throughout its occupation.