Archaeological settlement studies are called diachronic when they deal
with chronological development - local or regional - over time. The
articles in this book remain within the Bronze Age for the most part,
and cover periods that vary from a few hundred to thousands of years.
The contributions represent three traditions in European diachronic
settlement studies: a Northern, a Central European, and a South
European. The aim of this European Science Foundation (ESF) workshop,
from which these reports emanated, was to present studies from a wide
range of European countries in order to illustrate the different
scientific approaches to common problems. By doing this, the
participants examined how different research traditions, administrative
practices and financial restrictions influence archaeological practices.
They then search for new common approaches. The collection of reports
cover archaeological studies from Scandinavia, northern Germany, Poland,
Slovakia, Slovenia and England.