Palaeolithic geography: Or where are the deer?

A method is offered by which maps of Palaeolithic geography can be drawn. The central objective is to look at palaeoecology but the difficulties — largely of imprecise numerical data — of this approach are accepted. Instead we urge archaeologists to remove their site blinkers; to consider not the areas around their sites but the area in which their sites occur; and not to place humans automatically at the centre of their landscapes. Initially we discuss the ways in which areas are defined, and the amount and effects of landscape change are assessed. Particular emphasis is placed on the relatively new field of tectonics as an agent of short‐term landscape change in certain areas. After deciding what species are to be analysed, the basis of the maps is proposed as a mosaic of terrain (how steep or flat is the ground?) and edaphic factors (does the ground grow good plants, or good food for herbivores?). From the analysis of this mosaic, the relevant species are placed in the landscape. In good cases the quality of the data allows numerical estimates of the species to be made, and in any case the choices, options or strategies available to Palaeolithic humans can then be assessed on the basis of a map which shows the dispersion of resources and the relation of the site(s) to them. The distinction is stressed between this method and that of site catchment analysis, which may be largely irrelevant to mobile Palaeolithic economies. The authors draw their practical examples from their work as part of the Klithi research project in Epirus.