SCA and Theoretical Criticism

Figure 1 A simplistic circular 5 km boundary delineated around a given archaeological site to approximate a catchment region. The boundary was delineated using buffering procedures readily available within most GIS software packages.

While SCA is presented here in positive light, the approach is not free from theoretical criticism. SCA in practice can be criticized for being too functionalist and too simplistic in nature. In addition, it is possible for the approach to become heavily based on environment data, as environmental data layers tend to be more readily available than cultural data layers. The use or overuse of environmental data may direct the research to ignore characteristics of the culture that are separate to environmental factors. In this situation, if the researcher does not address the limitations of an environmentally biased approach, the work is open to criticism for being founded on principles of environmental determinism. In light of these theoretical criticisms, any researcher carrying out SCA must report the benefits and limitations of their research approach. Not doing so will leave their work open to serious theoretical criticism.

Figure 2 This Digital Elevation Model (DEM) displays the mainstream information source for acquiring elevation and slope and aspect data for a given study area. These data are compatible with most commercial and freely available GIS software packages.

And with cultural groups. For example, a distribution of contemporary sites from a particular region may exhibit different settlement patterns when evaluated using the SCA approach. Sites used for cropping-based activities, for example, may associate more with rich fertile soils, whereas those used with livestock and pasture-based husbandry may associate with more hilly environments and soils of inferior quality. Using such information, the differences between physiographic conditions may help to focus the research or to shape better understanding of the settlement pattern-associated sites in a particular region or period than known previously. Thus the SCA technique can base an objective method for analyzing relationships between site location, technology, and available resources.