Bird’s-eye view: a preliminary application of GIS tools and Machine Learning Models to Chalcolithic/Bronze Age selected Southwestern Iberian areas

Abstract

Research on the transition from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age in the Iberian Peninsula has seen successive updates and developments in recent decades. Several research projects address these issues, and many sites have been added to the repertoire depicting these cultural, social, and demographic changes. However, only in recent years have new technologies been applied to these realities, as resources that allow us to see beyond materiality in its singularity and tools to allow us to perceive the whole, both at a local and regional level. This study aims to present preliminary data on these topics, using GIS tools and Machine Learning models to understand settlement patterns in the Guadiana River (Portuguese and Spanish territories) during the Chalcolithic/ Bronze Age transition. By combining information on the types of settlements, their topography, and resources in the area, we can start assembling a picture of how these communities occupied the landscape and adapted their lifestyle to the new contingencies that they faced between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE.