Mobility at the scale of meters

When archeologists discuss mobility, we are most often referring to a phenomenon that operates on the scale of kilometers, but much of human mobility, at least if measured in terms of frequency of movement, occurs at much smaller scales, ranging from centimeters to tens of meters. Here we refer to the movements we make within the confines of our homes or places of employment. With respect to nomadic peoples, movements at this scale would include movements within campsites. Understanding mobility at small scales is important to archeology because small-scale mobility decisions are a critical factor affecting spatial patterning observed in archeological sites. In this paper, we examine the factors affecting small-scale mobility decisions in a Mongolian reindeer herder summer camp and the implications of those decisions with regard to archeological spatial patterning.