DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10159857
title: Positioning of the LT B-LT D sites in Křivoklát Protected Landscape Area and its surroundings on the background of Cumulative Focal Mobility Network

description: Data supplement for the landscape connectivity study between Iron Age settlements (LT B-LT D) in Křivoklát Protected Landscape Area with focus on site of Nižbor (exact quotation of the paper will be added after its official publishing – Venclová, N. –Dreslerová, D. – Kyselý, R. – Dyčka, M. – Šebesta, J. – Pachnerová Brabcová, K. – Bíšková, J. – Matoušek, V. 2024: Paths to this and the next world: A La Tène sunken hut from Nižbor, Central Bohemia. Archeologické rozhledy 76, 329-358).

The study is based on the analysis called Cumulative Focal Mobility Network (CFMN), which has been perfected for more than a decade. This method calculates directional-less movement in the artificial environment from a multitude of source points (grid of 256 equally spaced points in a 50 km radius around Nižbor) by means of the interpretation of slope model using hydrological tools (Fábrega-Álvarez 2006; Murrieta-Flores 2012). The resulting x-number of models, representing the most convenient paths to the selection of points, are then merged and analysed with the Density tool to find the highest number of overlaps (for the syntax, see Fig. 14). In practice, these are the corridors for the most convenient movement throughout the landscape (Bellavia 2001; Verhagen 2010; Déderix 2016). In other words, the analysis can be described as an ideal model of connectivity and accessibility of various locations in the terrain and of optimal pathways – natural corridors of movement – leading across the entire landscape (Verhagen et al. 2013; Stančo – Pažout 2020).

The 5th generation Digital Terrain Model of the Czech Republic (DMR 5G) was used for the analysis. It was reclassified to an 8 m cell size and cleared of modern infrastructure developments (Novák et al. 2022). It was combined with the Model of Potential Floodplains in the Czech Republic (Novák 2017), which served as a further buffer for the movement. All analyses were calculated in ArcMap 10.8 software.

To reconstruct the position of the studied site in the LT B–LT ­D period in a broader sense, the settlement pattern should be considered within the Křivoklát Protected Landscape Area and its surroundings (principally Beroun, Kladno, Praha-západ and Rakovník districts in Central Bohemia). An overview of La Tène sites was recently presented (Dreslerová et al. 2022)  based on current archaeological records (AMCR database). Hence, in a 50 km radius around Nižbor, 344 positive confirmations of human activity can be found between LT B and LT D. For the needs of this study, the site location was refined by merging the immediately neighbouring ones into clusters, which are further treated as one site with positive confirmation of occupation in LT B­–LT D. A total of 149 sites were thus studied in relation to Nižbor.

 

Sources:

AMCR database: Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic. Available at: https://digiarchiv.aiscr.cz/ [accessed 01-01-2022].

Bellavia, G. 2001: Extracting "Natural Pathways" from a Digital Elevation Model. Applications to Landscape Archaeological Studies. In: G. Burenhult – J. Arvidsson (eds.), Archaeological Informatics: Pushing The Envelope. Proceedings of the CAA 2001. Oxford: Archaeopress, 5–12.

Déderix, S. 2016: Travelling Across Archaeological Landscapes: the Contribution of Hierarchical Communication Networks. In: S. Campana et al. (eds.), Keep the revolution going. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, CAA 2015. Oxford: Archaeopress, 555–565.

Dreslerová, D. – Venclová, N. – Demján, P. – Kyselý, R. – Matoušek, V. 2022: Did they leave or not? A critical perspective on the beginnings of the La Tène period in Bohemia. Archeologické rozhledy 74, 505–537. https://doi.org/10.35686/AR.2022.24

Fábrega-Álvarez, P. 2006: Moving without destination. A theoretical GIS-based determination of movement from a giving origin. Archaeological Computing Newsletter 64, 7–11.

Murrieta-Flores, P. 2012: Understanding human movement through spatial technologies. The role of natural areas of transit in the Late Prehistory of south-western Iberia. Trabajos de Prehistoria 69, 103–122.

Novák D. 2017: GIS data - Model potenciálních rozlivových zón na území ČR | GIS data - Model of Potential Floodplains in the Czech Republic. Zenodo. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3367357.

Novák D. – Pružinec F. – Lieskovský T. 2022: The Potential and Implications of Automated Pre-Processing of Lidar-Based Digital Elevation Models for Large-Scale Archaeological Landscape Analysis. Slovak Journal of Civil Engineering 30, 4. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4063514

Stančo, L. – Pažout, A. 2020: Which way to Roxane: Mobility networks in the heartland of Central Asia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 32, 102391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102391

Verhagen, P. 2010: On the Road to Nowhere? Least Cost Paths, Accessibility and the Predictive Modelling Perspective. In: F. Contreras – M. Farjas – F. J. Melero (eds.), Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, CAA 2010. Oxford: Archaeopress, 383–390.

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