| The research was designed to throw light on the question whether environmental conditions could be used to explain and predict prehistoric settlement patterns and adaptation in an environment that offered few economic alternatives--in this case, the salmon-bearing Teno River drainage in Finnish Lapland. The question was approached through the reconstruction of Holocene environmental conditions by using (1) available research results concerning the deglaciation of the area; (2) available palynological and dendrochronological data concerning the development of the vegetation and climate; (3) available zooecological and other data relevant for the distribution of animal species during the Postglacial Era. This led to the isolation of a series of chronological zones that differed from each other in climate, vegetation, and fauna.; A set of models of human subsistence and settlement patterns was then formulated, based on the conclusions about the resources available during each zone and on the information gained about their seasonal and long-term obtainability. Since the existing knowledge about the archaeology of the region was not employed in formulating the models, the archaeology could subsequently be used as an independent test of them. The test indicated a close fit between the predicted and the observed chronological patterns in (1) lithic raw material usage; (2) the introduction of exotic artifact types; (3) the development of hunting methods; (4) the general site distributions; and (5) the specific site locations.; Analysis of the Ala-Jalve site, the largest excavated collection in the region and the richest lithic assemblage in Finland, provided an important case study. It consisted primarily of statistical investigation of the spatial and technological variables of the lithic debitage, and succeeded in explaining site formation processes and establishing chronological entities within the material. Once the site's internal complexity had been worked out the proposed subsistence-settlement models could be productively employed to explain the rationale of its existence.; Although the regional archaeological data were fragmentary, the study showed that it was possible to use models based on environmental conditions to explain and predict prehistoric settlement patterns. More fieldwork was, nevertheless, recommended to fully establish the viability of the models. |
