In practice, a three-part methodological framework establishes the SCA approach in archaeological investigation. The first part of the methodology involves identifying and recording information about archaeological sites in terms of locally available resources within a given economic range. These resources include those that are found within the surrounding area of an archaeological site, and those that were habitually used by the group in question. Specifically, these resources comprise sources of food and materials for toolmaking, in addition to plant evidence, animal remains, and artifacts associated with individual sites.
Underpinning this approach, the peoples associated with given archaeological sites are assumed to have exploited a local territory or home-range area immediately surrounding their sites. The second methodology in the SCA approach ties closely with the concept of home range and involves reconstructing the ‘limits of influence’ on the site’s local economy. Essentially the kernel of this method stipulates that the farther one moves away from a given site, the greater the economic costs associated with exploiting resources. Eventually the economic costs reach a point where they exceed the return and an economic boundary is defined. The process of establishing an economic boundary is linked with estimating the reasonable walking distance of approximately 1-2 h time around a given archaeological site. Establishing this boundary will take into account the nature of the local economy and the type of cultural group in question. This boundary, in simplest form, can be defined by drawing a circle around the site with a roughly estimated radius set at 1.5-5 km (i. e., an hour’s walk) for horticulturalists (see Figure 1) and as far as 10 km (i. e., two hours’ walk) for hunter-gatherers. More sophisticated analysis, however, may also include analysis of the local physiographic conditions such as slope, elevation (Figure 2), and water features, since these physiographic factors impose friction on ease of walking and can result in a reduction of travel distance. Once the economic boundary is established, the necessary resource data are assembled using map algebra overlay techniques along with data sets identified in the first stage of the methodological framework.
The third stage in the methodological framework involves using the assembled data to make comparisons between different sites with the goal of identifying the similarities and differences between compared sites. Using this information, the researchers can further develop an understanding of the activities and patterns associated with different groups of people
World History
