Spatial Prediction: Reconstructing the 'Spatiality' of Social Activities at the Intra-Site Scale

Predictive modelling has proved its effectiveness for landscape analysis at inter-site scales, searching for the hidden rules guiding the most probable placement of settlements. In this paper, we suggest using similar spatial models at smaller intra-site scales, to discover apparent rules in the placement of activity areas within a settlement. In so doing, the most probable placement of social activities can be predicted in terms of the statistical properties of the precise locations where artefacts and ecofacts have been observed. As predictive tools in an intra-site scale, we advocate in this paper the use of spatial interpolation techniques. Through their application to a concrete case study from Bronze Age Central Italy, the advantages and limitations of this approach are also discussed.