Site-Catchment Analysis: Applications to Iowa Archaeology

The use of optimal foraging theory to estimate Late Glacial site catchment areas from a central place: The case of eastern Cantabria, Spain

“…The calculation of the catchment areas associated with a site has been used to study land use patterns for nearly 40 years (Vita-Finzi and Higgs, 1970), facilitating the analysis of the relationship existing between the natural resources located within the site's area of economic influence and the behaviour of its human occupants (Tiffany and Abbott, 1982). In this way, the degree of subsistence specialisation of certain settlements can be assessed within a more complex regional system.…”

Reconstructing prehistoric hunter–gatherer foraging radii: a case study from California's southern Sierra Nevada

“…Others looked for material correlates of different mobility strategies, often equating bifacial stone tool technologies with residentially mobile behaviors (e.g., Cowan, 1999;Kelly, 1988;Parry and Kelly, 1987;Rasic and Andrefsky, 2001). Still others measured distances between habitation sites in order to identify polygonal catchments around settlements, roughly equating these with foraging radii (e.g., Tartaglia, 1980;Tiffany and Abbott, 1982). More recently, the concept, if not empirical evidence for the foraging radius, was used to predict yearly Paleoindian residential moves (Surovell, 2000).…”

Hunter–gatherer movement patterns: Causes and constraints

“…In their various forms, site catchment analyses have formed the backdrop to myriad archeological studies of land use (e.g. Roper, 1979;Tiffany and Abbott, 1982;Bailey and Davidson, 1983;Davidson and Green, 1989;Hunt, 1992;David et al, 1994).…”