'Out of Site': Problems in Understanding Hominin Dispersal
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-09-19

Discussions of Pleistocene hominin dispersal inevitably involve broad generalisations across vast spatio-temporal scales. As a result, the question of how we model movement in regions where there is a limited or fragmentary record becomes even more pertinent. Some of these regions are the most interesting from the perspective of global hominin dispersal. In such situations, pre-existing site location can become possibly our greatest clue, and inductive predictive models offer an attractive method for understanding and predicting site locations. However, I will argue that overreliance on such models could be holding back our understanding of key Pleistocene dispersal regions. Central to such a criticism is Foley’s (1981a; 1981b) concept of ‘off-site archaeology’, which has previously called into question the use of sites as an analytical unit. When discrete sites are defined in opposition to the wider hominin landscape, it obscures the necessary fact that the hominin behavioural landscape was itself continuous with interconnected localities. Inductive predictive models exacerbate this issue by emphasising site location versus environmental variables, at the expense of a more nuanced understanding of hominin adaptation and subsistence in the landscape. Foley, R., 1981a. A Model of Regional Archaeological Structure. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Volume 47, pp. 1-17. Foley, R., 1981b. Off-site archaeology: an alternative approach for the short-sighted. In: I. Hodder, G. Isaac & N. Hammond, eds. Pattern of the Past: Studies in Honour of David Clarke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 157-183.

Full title: 'Out of Site': Problems in Understanding Hominin Dispersal Caused by Site Centrism and Predictive Models

(Patrick Cuthbertson)