Intrasite Spatial Analysis of the Early Medieval Hamlet of Develier-Courtételle, Switzerland

Abstract

DATA AMASSED during the recent excavation of an early medieval settlement in the Canton of Jura, Switzerland, offered the rare opportunity of conducting an in-depth intrasite spatial analysis of an entire hamlet. Some of the problems encountered and a selection of the results produced during this research are presented. The focus is primarily on methodological issues: data loss during mechanical excavation; the choice between statistical or visual analysis; and distinguishing the effects of taphonomy from patterning due to cultural activities.

The author gratefully acknowledges the help of Maruska Federici-Schenardi, who co-directed the project ‘Develier-Courtételle’. He also wishes to thank François Schifferdecker, formerly cantonal archaeologist, and Michel Hauser, Director of the Office de la culture of the Canton Jura, for their unwavering support. Thanks also to Tayfun Yilmaz, and Marie-Claude Maître for the illustrations.

Notes

1 Section d’archéologie et paléontologie, Office de la culture, Hôtel des Halles, 2900 Porrentruy, Switzerland. [email protected]

2 Fellner and Federici-Schenardi 2007, 11–69.

3 Federici-Schenardi and Fellner 2004.

4 Marti et al 2006; Eschenlohr et al 2007; Guélat et al 2008.

5 Hodder and Orton 1976.

6 Djindjian 1991, 109–42; Blankholm 1991.

7 Blankholm 1991.

8 Orton 2004.

9 Fellner and Federici-Schenardi 2007, 22–3.

10 Ibid, 63.

11 Shennan 1988, 195–7.

12 Schiffer 1987; Sommer 1991; Wilson 1994.

13 Schiffer 1987, 125.

14 Boismier 1997.

15 Guélat et al 2008, 14.

16 Stein 1983.

17 Schiffer 1987, 251–5.

18 Fellner and Federici-Schenardi 2007, 127–30.

19 Federici-Schenardi and Fellner 2004, 106–7.

20 Schiffer 1987, 59.

21 Sommer 1991, 64.

22 Hayden and Cannon 1983, 126.

23 Schiffer 1987, 61–2; Blum 2003, 206.

24 Hayden and Cannon 1983; Beck 2006; Beck and Hill 2004.

25 Eren et al 2010.

26 Walters 1984.

27 Fellner and Federici-Schenardi 2007, 48–9.

28 Ibid, 63–4.

29 Federici-Schenardi and Fellner 2004, 89–91.

30 Waterbolk and Harsema 1979.

31 Marti et al 2006, 105–6.

32 Federici-Schenardi and Fellner 2004, 95.

33 Fellner and Federici-Schenardi 2007, 45–50.

34 Ibid, fig 24.

35 Rosenswig 2009, 28.