Always counterclockwise: Puzzle of early Neolithic house orientations finally solved [pseudo-neglect]

Eurekalert ^ | January 10, 2020 | Kiel University

[SunkenCiv]

Human behaviour is influenced by many things, most of which remain unconscious to us. One of these is a phenomenon known among perception psychologists as "pseudo-neglect". This refers to the observation that healthy people prefer their left visual field to their right and therefore devide a line regularly left of centre.

A study published on Friday, January 10, in the online magazine PLOS ONE now shows for the first time what effect this inconspicuous deviation had in the prehistoric past. A Slovak-German research team has investigated the alignment of early Neolithic houses in Central and Eastern Europe. Scientists of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) "Scales of Transformation" of Kiel University (CAU) and the Slovakian Academy of Sciences were able to prove that the orientation of newly built houses deviated by a small amount from that of existing buildings and that this deviation was regularly counterclockwise.

Archaeologist Dr. Nils Müller-Scheessel, who coordinated the study within the CRC, says: "Researchers have long assumed that early Neolithic houses stood for about a generation, i.e. 30 to 40 years, and that new houses had to be built next to existing ones at regular intervals. By means of age determination using the radiocarbon method, we can now show that the new construction was associated with a barely perceptible rotation of the house axis counterclockwise. We see "Pseudoneglect" as the most likely cause of this."

This insight was made possible by the interpretation of one of the fastest growing archaeological data sets at present, namely the results of geophysical magnetics measurements. Differences in the earth's magnetic field are used to visualise archaeological features lying underground. Early Neolithic house ground plans belong to the best identifiable types of features.

[SunkenCiv]

Aerial photo of the excavation area of an early Neolithic settlement near Vr¡ble in Slovakia. [Nils Müller-Scheessel]

[BenLurkin]

“the orientation of newly built houses deviated by a small amount from that of existing buildings and that this deviation was regularly counterclockwise.”

Aesthetics probably. They just didn’t want the layout to be boring.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[TexasGator]

“Aesthetics probably. They just didn’t want the layout to be boring.”

You DID NOT read the article!

[Pikachu_Dad]

Not much of an article. And a whole lot of speculation !

Certainly not a provable theory.

So just garbage.

[Honest Nigerian]

I read the article. But I sure as heck could not tell you what it said.
But they said they P R O V E D ...... something. Slovakia?
Anyway, I really don’t know what article said. Help please?

[TexasGator]

“Certainly not a provable theory.”

https://www.oakton.edu/user/4/billtong/eas100/scientificmethod.htm

[TexasGator]

“
But they said they P R O V E D ...... something.”

” ... and the Slovakian Academy of Sciences were able to prove that the orientation of newly built houses deviated by a small amount from that of existing buildings and that this deviation was regularly counterclockwise.”

[Pikachu_Dad]

just idle speculation.

...”We see “Pseudoneglect” as the most likely cause of this.”

[wally_bert]

Really tough building codes and HOAs.