ABSTRACT
Percolation analysis is a way of identifying clusters within a set of spatially arranged points. It was originally conceived in materials science but has since become more widely applied.
It is now being used for example in geography to identify urban systems and hierarchies through the density of street interconnections. The same technique has been applied to Domesday vills and shires to help identify Domesday administrative organisation and relate it to modern Britain. For hillfort sites, clusters map well onto topographically distinct regions of Britain and Ireland. This provides a starting point for more detailed analysis, drawing on other sources of data.
Percolation analysis is not a magic tool to elicit the past, but hints at possible prehistoric groupings and cultural/socio-political entities. This can guide, complement and reinforce studies based on other types of evidence.
A detailed background and technical description of percolation analysis is provided, along with descriptions of recent applications in archaeology; the chapter concludes with a discussion of its potential as a technique and how it might be further developed.
