The present contribution deals with the concepts of marginal habitats in
selected regions of the ancient world, ranging from modern Spain to the
Jordanian desert and from Turkey to the Ethiopian highlands. Central to this
research is the hypothesis that the occupation of areas beyond the ‘normal’
settlement patterns corresponds to colonization processes which reflect
specific social strategies and may have stimulated the development of new
technological skills. A review of ‘marginality’ research in various
disciplines indicates that there is no comprehensive definition of the
concept, which can be approached from a multitude of perspectives and with
manifold objectives. A survey of the eight case studies and two more in-depth
discussions of the sites of Musawwarat (Sudan) and Ayamonte (Spain) highlight
the potentials as well as the limits of the archaeological investigation into
past marginalities. Patterns of spatial marginalization are the easiest to
detect. The studies also show that we must not limit our analysis to the
adverse factors connected to different kinds of marginalities. Instead, our
analyses suggest that spatially marginal areas were deliberately chosen for
settlement – an integration with core-periphery approaches may help us to
understand these scenarios, which have received little attention in
‘marginality’ research in archaeology or elsewhere so far