Archaeological predictive modeling assumes a relationship between archeological site locations and a suite of environmental ‘predictor’ variables. These variables are chosen subjectively by the modelers because they are assumed to have some bearing on why prehistoric peoples chose to live or spend time in specific locations. The choice of variables is limited by available environmental data.
This document defines and evaluates the environmental variables used as predictors for the MnModel Phase 4 archaeological site and survey locational models. Specific instructions for deriving these variables are documented in the MnModel Phase 4 Tools Handbook (Brown et al. 2019).
