Session: #421

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
2. [Re]integration
Session format:
Regular session

Title & Content

Title:
Space Syntax: The Material Imprints of Spatial Integration Processes
Content:
The integration of communities was played out against a complex background, a mesh of social, economic, technological, and cultural elements. The shifting perspectives in theoretical approaches led to the integration of overlapping studies, one of these being Bill Hillier’s space syntax theory. In his view, creators and builders work under various types of control, and the created spaces also have a visible impact on their users. The behavior of communities, their social structures, subsistence and ritual practices are encoded in these culturally determined spaces, which are in turn reflected in spatial patterns. Through the application of GIS, the spatial information encapsulating various practices and processes can be integrated into a single interpretational framework.
Spatial analysis has a long history in South-East European prehistoric studies. John Chapman’s article, ‘The early Balkan village’, can be regarded as the result of processual archaeology. His model was based on the dichotomy of natural space and familiar place. He interpreted the built environment through the ratio of built and unbuilt space and identified the primary structuring principles of the built environment both in the vertical (superimposed settlement layers) and horizontal dimensions, as well as on the intrasite and microregional level. Although archaeological scholarship has since moved beyond the general validities of the spatial patterns reflected in settlement networks and structures, the original goals are still relevant.
As Chris Gosden and Lambros Malafouris re-created the P-Arch, the archaeology of the built environment has gained a fresh perspective, aided by GIS and geophysics. Extensive and well-grounded research has confirmed the multicolor nature of unique cases; yet, we can discern a certain measure of uniformity in diversity. We look forward to receiving prehistoric case studies from Central and South-East Europe, which focus on intra-site and microregional analyses based on the spatial patterns of archaeological finds and features.
Keywords:
Integration process, Space syntax, Settlement network and structure, Instrasite and microregional analyses, Central and Southeast Europe, Prehistory
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:

Organisers

Main organiser:
András Füzesi (Hungary) 1
Co-organisers:
Gábor Mesterházy (Hungary) 2
Eszter Bánffy (Germany) 3
Pál Raczky (Hungary) 4
Affiliations:
1. Hungarian National Museum
2. Várkapitányság Nonprofit Zrt.
3. Römisch-Germanische Kommission
4. Eötvös Loránd University