Archaeological literature on mobility mainly focusses on settlement patterns within catchment areas. We noticed that at the core of such approaches is a reliance on the idea that mobility precedes transformation to settlements within a particular catchment area. In developing such models I argue that it is important to understand the cognitive behaviour behind mobility. One way of reconstructing past mobility and settlement patterns in an archaeological landscape, maybe through analyzing selected material culture assemblages, biological remains and other structural activities at the site(s) at the micro-macro level, not only in reference to availability of natural resources, but also in terms of inter-intra correlations within and between different (lithic) industries in terms of artefact attributes, manufacturing techniques, and types-subtypes.

Such studies could help to identify the causes of mobility and the impacts such mobility has had on the spatial patterning of settlements. This paper discusses a comparative study and preliminary observations on the artefacts, ecofacts and other evidence of human activity, including site formation processes, from two different ecozones in India, the Middle Ganga River, and the Northern Vindhyas. The richness of subsistence resources in the Middle Ganga plains appears to have encouraged human populations to remain in the region, where they probably established periodical rotational settlements.