Spoilt for choice? Dynamics of settlement patterns in early farming societies (c. 5400-4300 BCE) in North-Western Bavaria and North Rhine-Westfalia, Germany

Supplementary Material This repository provides the data and R scripts used to generate the analyses and figures supporting the study “Spoilt for choice? Dynamics of settlement patterns in early farming societies (c. 5400-4300 BCE) in North-Western Bavaria and North Rhine-Westfalia, Germany”. The materials enable full reproducibility of the quantitative analyses. The supplementary files include spatial point data, environmental covariates, and the complete modelling and visualisation workflow based on spatial point process models. In particular, the materials document the estimation and comparison of rhohat- and model-based effect curves and residual patterns that underpin the study’s conclusions. All scripts are documented and structured to allow stepwise execution of the analysis pipeline and replication of the figures and tables reported in the main text. Abstract This study examines regional differences in the site selection of Neolithic settlements during the 6th and 5th millennia BCE in North Rhine-Westphalia and Northwestern Bavaria. Quantitative analyses indicate that regional patterns in settlement location are more stable than diachronic trends. Over time, site selection exhibits a diachronic shift from the ecologically conservative behaviour characteristic of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) towards an expansion into increasingly sub-optimal environments. The results further demonstrate that settlement patterns cannot be explained solely by ecological factors. Instead, increasing flexibility in site selection appears to be closely linked to processes of agricultural diversification.