Properties of archaeological spatial data and its impact on interpretation of archaeological record

Tsoni Tsonev
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND MUSEUM
So far archaeological interpretation is exclusively based on the presence of particular artefact categories in archaeological
contexts. However, when working with spatial distributions of archaeological data there are vast regions where these data
occur rarely or are absent. The question is whether the combined use of all these data (present, rarely occurred and absent)
can help improving the explanatory power of archaeological interpretations. A reasonable approach to these kinds of data is to
study the properties of their spatial distribution. An example will be provided of the stability and invariance of subsistence
practices of a sample of Neolithic sites in Bulgaria. Another example will show the ability of early farming populations to change
their settlement pattern. For this purpose a sample of the earliest Neolithic sites will be examined in terms of how well they
form a group where each constituent site has similar characteristics (high degree of self-similarity) of a central place. On this
background it will be shown that within this network some sites lose their centrality over time. Further I will argue that the
cause that stays behind this change lies in the change of the symbolic system that characterizes the centrality of these early
Neolithic sites. This picture shows a complex way of evolution which puts it in contrast to traditional archaeological
interpretations that take the form of positive evolutionary models.