Defining Activity Areas in the Early Neolithic Site at Foeni-Salas (southwest Romania): A Spatial Analytic Approach with Geographical Information Systems in Archaeology

This thesis conducts a spatial analysis of the Early Neolithic pit house levels of the Foeni-Salas site in southeast Romania, in the northern half of the Balkans, to determine the kinds and locations of activities that occurred in these pit houses. Characteristic Early Neolithic dwellings in the northern Balkans are pit houses. The data are analyzed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology in an attempt to identify non-random patterns that will indicate how the pit house inhabitants used their space. Both visual and statistical (Nearest Neighbor) techniques are used to identify spatial patterns. Spreadsheet data are incorporated into the map database in order to compare and contrast the results from the two techniques of analysis. Map data provides precise artefact locations, while spreadsheet data yield more generalized quad centroid information. Unlike the mapped data, the spreadsheet data also included artefacts recovered in sieves. Utilizing both data types gave a more complex and fuller understanding of how space was used at Foeni-Sala¸s.