We consider a dynamic group composed with a constant number of people and the people will change periodically. Every member in the community owns a value of confidence — a mechanism that measures the agent’s coherence to his or her own attitude. Based on Cellular Automata, the opinions of all agents are synchronously updated. As long as the updating frequency and updating proportion are appropriate, the open system can reach a democracy-like steady state. The majority of agents in the community will hold the same opinion.

This paper focuses on ancient settlements in the Luzhong region (the centre of Shandong Province) of China and analyses the spatial–temporal distribution and morphological characteristics of ancient settlements with the help of GIS technology and the perspectives of archaeology and cultural geography. Specifically, the 1972 settlements collected were used to establish a database of settlement site attributes. Then, the DEM data were superimposed with the settlement sites, and calculations of the kernel density, elevation, slope, aspect, and buffer zone were further carried out. The distribution and characteristics were refined based on quantitative and qualitative analyses. The study found that the Neolithic period, the Shang–Zhou period, and the Qin–Northern and Southern Dynasties were the three high points of settlement development. In these three periods, the centres of the large-scale distribution of settlements experienced changes from a “single centre” to a “continuous belt” to a “double centre’. In general, the spatial and temporal characteristics of the settlement distribution were continuously developed through time, while the spatial characteristics show that the main body continued to change locally. In different periods, settlements tended to be in the alluvial plains located between 20 and 60 m and with a slope of less than 6°. At the same time, they showed the obvious characteristic of living close to water. The past, present, and future are in the same chain of time; meanwhile, these settlements are the predecessors of today’s cities, towns, and villages. So, this study provides a basis for protecting their heritage value and provides a reference for the coordination of human–land relations, which can help achieve global sustainable development.

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