Settlement System or Pattern The relationship between the people, environment and technology Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the

e Viru Valley. The aims which Willy put forth were 1) Archaeology or the study of human adaptation to the valley environment over a long period of time. 2) The investigations of the life and ways of the modern inhabitants of valley 3) The natural environment of the valley The various sites discovered were classified based on the material culture into various categories such as living sites, community and ceremonial structures, fortified areas or refuse areas and cemeteries. Explain changes in the form and distribution of sites in the valley happened in several years of its occupation and its relationship with the socioeconomic trends and historical events the away in which man disposed himself over the landscape on which he lived. It refers to dwellings, to their arrangement, to the nature disposal of other buildings pertaining to community life. Ecological Approach:- Which focuses mostly the assumption that the settlement pattern is a product of the interaction between environment and technology. The ecological approach mainly investigates how the settlement pattern reflects the adaptation of a society and its technology to its environment. In the second approach settlement patterns are used as a basis for understanding social, political and religious organizations. This approach was well established by the work of K.C. Chang. According to him archaeological settlement is the physical locale or cluster of locales where the members of a community lived, ensured their subsistence and pursued social functions. Bruce Trigger The individual building or structure: It reflects the attempts to cope up with the environment, technological skills, family structure, economical status, craft activities, religious beliefs etc. Community Layout: means the layout of the structures constituting single community. Which includes the houses, religious places, fortifications, town planning, cemeteries, enclosure areas etc. This pattern shows the overall layout of the city in a particular period as well as reflects social stratification and economic activities. Zonal Patterns:- The combination of first two levels leads to the zonal pattern. This helps in understanding of overall settlement pattern of the community within a particular region or zone.

Technological Component, Socio Component and Ideological Component. There interrelation with each other is called as Cultural process. Region The most scientific way or appropriate way of defining region is the natural boundaries such as river valleys, mountains or any other natural features. Archaeological record preserved in the form of sites, antiquities or other cultural material should be studied within the naturally defined areas rather than the political or administrative areas. This particular approach towards the region is called as Regional Approach. In order to reconstruct the entire pattern of land use it is necessary to identify the specific function of the each separate site and then to put all different units or sites in one complex to understand the past human behavior According to Binford, the culture is composed of system and sub-system. The system flourishes due to the presence of sub-system. The system in archaeological record can be identified as the big sites where the main administrative and trading activities are carried out whereas the sub-system are the smaller sites where various other activities are carried out such as exploitation of raw material, agriculture, craft manufacturing etc. Factors Affecting Settlement Pattern Nearness to the perennial supply of water Availability of arable land Availability of pasture land Building material Raw material Apart from these natural factors there are some human factors or economical factors which also governs the settlement pattern such as Trade Political organization Warfare Religion Site Typology J.R. Parson and R.L. Blanton studied the ancient settlement pattern of the Mexico valley and classified sites into different categories, this classification was further developed by Flannery such as Primary Regional Centre: Population more than 2000 individuals

Secondary Regional Centre: Population between 1000 to 2000 Nucleated villages: Population between 100 to 1000 Hamlet: Population below 100 Camp: Population of 15 to 20 Population Estimate To estimate the population of the site several factors have been listed such as human skeleton record, arfifacts used by the people, food remains, ecological potentials of the land i.e. threshold value etc. Hassan in 1978 Limitations Social Conditions Economical Conditions Natural conditions Different Patterns Linear pattern Hexagonal pattern Dispersed pattern