Lines of Sight, Lines of Movement: Settlement Configurations and Metal Age Landscapes in Taiwan

CHUANG Shih-ying

The organization of settlements and their relationship to landscape during the Metal Age in Taiwan remain incompletely understood. In particular, the spatial implications of metallurgy have not yet been systematically examined. This study explores whether changes in settlement scale and distribution coincided with the introduction of metal technology. More than 200 Metal Age archaeological sites are currently documented in Taiwan. Situating the analysis within this broader corpus, this research focuses on geographic setting and settlement extent as primary classificatory criteria, supplemented by available chronological and assemblage data. Spatial patterns are examined within a GIS framework using viewshed, nearest-neighbour, and kernel density analyses to assess visibility, proximity, and clustering. Preliminary observations indicate that early Metal Age settlements were generally small in scale, with distribution expanding from the eastern coast toward northern and western regions. Over time, a tendency toward differentiation between settlement scale and landform type becomes observable: larger sites are often associated with marine terraces and alluvial fans, while small to medium-sized sites more frequently occur on river terraces and in estuarine areas. These patterns suggest gradual changes in settlement organization and landscape positioning during the Metal Age.