Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: Archaeologists’ knowledge of the past must rely on inference, often from scant material remains. Those of us who are not ethnoarchaeologists are denied the opportunity to directly observe our subjects: we can never watch Plio- Pleistocene hominins interact around a bovid carcass, or Hohokam farmers deal with the complexities of an irrigation system during a dry year. However, computer technology offers a way to view the dynamics of past cultural formation processes in digital conceptual models. Our student-run research group at the University of Arizona has found one relatively new class of models, called Agent-Based Models (ABMs), to be especially useful in this endeavor. Here we discuss the use of ABMs as “cultural laboratories” capable of executing controlled, repeatable experiments and systematically exploring multiple parameters of hypothetical cultural processes. We also provide brief synopses of ongoing projects to introduce research that is currently making use of this promising new methodology.
Authors: Premo, Luke, Murphy, John T., Scholnick, Jonathan B., Gabler, Brandon M., Beaver, Joseph E.
Institution: University of Arizona
Language: English
Subfield: Artificial Intelligence
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7057932777