Site variability and settlement patterns : an analysis of the hunter-gatherer settlement system in the Lule River Valley, 1500 B.C.-B.C./A.D

Abstract: This thesis deals with questions concerning prehistoric hunter-gatherer society on the River Luleälv in Northern Sweden from c. 1500 B.C. to B.C./A.D. Four main questions were posed. These concerned the material basis of society, functional changes and changes in resource utilization over time, and the social structure of society.The source material comes from 60 sites from the rivers Luleälv and Umeälv which were excavated in connection with the large-scale building of dams and power stations for hydro-electric purposes from the late forties to the early sixties. An additional data base has been 200 surveyed sites on the R. Umeälv.This material has been analyzed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate methods. The multivariate method has been Principal Component Analysis. In order to detect behaviourally significant patterning on the sites, isopleth maps of different classes of debitage have been constructed. In order to discuss resource utilization, opographical descriptions have been made of the separate site territories. An attempt has been made to test five different models of the settlement system.Analysis has resulted in three different models, one synchronic model of the settlement system c. 1500 B.C.-B.C./A.D., one diachronic model of the development of the hunter gatherer settlement systems during 6000 years, and one intrasite model characterizing five different site types. The settlement system during the period 1500 B.C.-B.C./A.D. was characterized by a clear bipolarity, with residential camps located in both the forest and the mountain foothill areas, the former being occupied during most of the year, while the latter were primarily occupied during the autumn. A clear distinction between the function of the two types of sites could also be discerned. The mountain foothill sites were characterized as projectile (hunting) dominated and the forest sites as primarily processing sites. This argument was strengthened by microwear analysis of four selected sites from both areas.The settlement system could also be seen to change from a system during the Early/Middle Neolithic period, mainly centered in the forest area, to the bipolar settlement system mentioned above. The intrasite model distinguished five site types: The residential camp in the mountain foothill area was characterized by flake concentrations, interpreted as huts, while the residential camp type in the forest area showed clear areas of about the same size as the supposed huts in the mountain foothill area. One type of exploitation camp, another type classified as a transitory camp, and an aggregation camp type were also postulated.