Settlement archaeology: World‐wide comparisons

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Abstract
Site sizes have been reported by archaeologists all over the world in the past 150 years. Now that numerous site size reports are becoming available from contract work and surveys for cultural resource management as well as from regional research programmes we need seriously to consider whether there really is sufficient intercomparability for this mass of data to be generally useful. Despite assumptions about inter‐regional inconsistencies in data collection there appears to be a world‐wide consistency in the way site size has been identified. Consistent patterns of site size distribution and rates of change are recognisable. Site size appears to be adequate as a gross referent of settlement size. A behavioural model of the interaction and communication constraints on community life provides an explanation of the large scale processes of settlement growth.