Display Matters? Enhanced Visualisation of Norwegian Neolithic Landscapes

Abstract

The paper explores enhanced visualisation of site distribution, with the purpose of understanding shifts in landscape preferences from Middle to Late Neolithic in East Norway. It includes single finds and artefacts from excavations, and the criteria are spatiotemporal accuracy related to the scale of analysis. The representativity of the dataset is evaluated. The artefacts are seen as a Poincaré set that describes the nonlinear system of movement and tasks in the prehistoric landscape. This gives a different approach to the study of site distributions that are results of single events performed in a continuous time and space. This Poincaré set is visualised as find densities in landscape subregions. Archaeological periods are used as temporal scale levels, while landscape subregions, defined through a holistic landscape categorisation, are applied as the spatial scale level.