- Arizona State University
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
PO Box 2402
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402 - office tel: (480) 727-1054
Isaac I T Ullah
San Diego State University, Anthropology, Faculty Member
- Arizona State University, Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity, Department Memberadd
- Social-Ecological Systems, Complex Adaptive Systems, GIS Applications in Archaeology, Landscape, Coupled Human and Natural Systems, Human/Landscape Interaction, and 49 moreLandscape Archaeology, Complexity theory in social systems, Ancient Agriculture & Farming (Archaeology), Archaeological GIS, Agricultural landscapes, Ancient Husbandry (Archaeology), Geoarchaeology, Archaeological Fieldwork, Archaeological field Theory, Intra-site GIS, Survey (Archaeological Method & Theory), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Archaeological Methodology, Quantitative Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, Evolutionary Archaeology, Formation processes (Geoarchaeology), Landscapes in prehistory, Mediterranean archaeology, Pastoral landscapes (Archaeology), Lithics, Mediterranean prehistory, Neolithic Archaeology, Ancient Near East (Archaeology), Nomadism, Middle Eastern Archaeology, Mobility (Archaeology), Near Eastern Archaeology, Levantine Archaeology, Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, Neolithic-Chalcolithic, Remote Sensing (Archaeology), Ancient Husbandry & Livestock (Archaeology), Rural Settlement, Settlement Patterns, Spatial analysis (Archaeology), Spatial archaeology, Geomorphology, Microarchaeology, Microrefuse Analysis, Household Archaeology, Socio-Ecological Systems, Resilience (Sustainability), Archaeological Method & Theory, Complexity Theory, Complex Systems Science, Computational Modeling, GIS in archaeology, and Ancient Trade & Commerce (Archaeology)edit
- I am an assistant professor of anthropology at San Diego State University. I study the long term effects of human lan... moreI am an assistant professor of anthropology at San Diego State University. I study the long term effects of human landuse decisions, especially those associated with Neolithic farming and pastoralism. My PhD research focused on the effect of agropastoralism on Neolithic landscapes, and how potential anthropogenic environmental degradation may have affected settlement patterns, landuse patterns, and patterns in the use of domestic space over time. I specifically investigated the transition from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in northern Jordan.
My main areas of interest are GIS applications in Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, Geomorphology, Household Archaeology, Spatial Analysis, Archaeological Modeling, Computational Modeling, Archaeological Survey, and Microrefuse Analysis.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about my research!edit
Research Interests:
The emergence of coupled natural and human landscapes marked a transformative interval in the human past that set our species on the road to the urbanized, industrial world in which we live, and enabled technologies and social... more
The emergence of coupled natural and human landscapes marked a transformative interval in the human past that set our species on the road to the urbanized, industrial world in which we live, and enabled technologies and social institutions responsible for human-natural couplings in domains beyond rural, agricultural settings. The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics Project (MedLand) is studying the interacting social and biophysical processes associated with these novel socioecological systems and their long-term consequences using a new form of 'experi-mental socioecology' made possible by recent advances in computation. We briefly describe the MedLand modeling laboratory, a hybrid simulation environment that couples models of smallholder farming and herding, landscape evolution, and vegetation change managed through an interaction model. We then review three examples of experimental socioecology carried out in this laboratory. These offer new insights for scale-dependent thresholds in agropastoral productivity , long-term sustainability of alternative land-use strategies, and identifying signatures of human and climate-driven landscape dynamics. We conclude with an overview of new directions for this interdisciplinary research on Anthropocene human-earth systems, including: modeling more diverse decision-making strategies for land-use, developing more sophisticated models of vegetation dynamics and fire ecology, and generating digital proxy data for more robust model validation against the empirical record.
Research Interests:
The data from older archaeological surveys are incredibly important resources, often containing our only information about sites that have been destroyed or that are now inaccessible. These surveys occurred before the advent of GPS... more
The data from older archaeological surveys are incredibly important resources, often containing our only information about sites that
have been destroyed or that are now inaccessible. These surveys occurred before the advent of GPS technology, however, so their
spatial accuracy is often uncertain. Many types of locational errors accumulate in such “legacy” datasets, so using them in modern
GIS-based spatial analyses is frequently problematic. Many of the sources of error can be identified and quantified, however, and
systematic and random errors (derived mainly from Cartesian, rounding, and human error) can largely be mitigated by scanning the
original field maps, georectifying the maps to trusted imagery, and then digitizing sites directly. The remaining “mislocation” errors
derive from difficulty identifying locations in the field. The original survey notes may contain clues about mislocation error, but it is
impossible to mitigate these errors without re-recording site locations with more accurate survey instruments. Instead, I advocate the
use of GIS-based models to estimate the influence of specific surveying practices on site location accuracy. These models can provide
a standardized, quantifiable measure of mislocation error in a legacy dataset, which can help guide its use in modern GIS analyses
that require accurate site locations.
PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A DIGITAL OFF-PRINT.
have been destroyed or that are now inaccessible. These surveys occurred before the advent of GPS technology, however, so their
spatial accuracy is often uncertain. Many types of locational errors accumulate in such “legacy” datasets, so using them in modern
GIS-based spatial analyses is frequently problematic. Many of the sources of error can be identified and quantified, however, and
systematic and random errors (derived mainly from Cartesian, rounding, and human error) can largely be mitigated by scanning the
original field maps, georectifying the maps to trusted imagery, and then digitizing sites directly. The remaining “mislocation” errors
derive from difficulty identifying locations in the field. The original survey notes may contain clues about mislocation error, but it is
impossible to mitigate these errors without re-recording site locations with more accurate survey instruments. Instead, I advocate the
use of GIS-based models to estimate the influence of specific surveying practices on site location accuracy. These models can provide
a standardized, quantifiable measure of mislocation error in a legacy dataset, which can help guide its use in modern GIS analyses
that require accurate site locations.
PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A DIGITAL OFF-PRINT.
Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Mediterranean prehistory, Digital Archaeology, and 20 moreGPS Applications, History of archaeological documentation, Archaeological GIS, Survey (Archaeological Method & Theory), Jordan, Geo-spatial analysis with GIS and GPS, Archaeological theory and practice, Mediterranean archaeology, History of Archaeological Research, Archaeological survey, History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), GPS, Legacy Data, Archaeology of Jordan, Archaeological Fieldwork In Practice and Theory, Archaeological Practice, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), History of Archaeology and Anthropology, and Archaeologial Data
ABSTRACT
The Mediterranean landscape record is recognized for its length and richness and the opportunity it offers to study the interaction between humans and their landscape. This volume explores a variety of current archaeological issues in the... more
The Mediterranean landscape record is recognized for its length and richness and the opportunity it offers to study the interaction between humans and their landscape. This volume explores a variety of current archaeological issues in the context of specific landscapes from southern Spain through Greece and Cyprus to Jordan and from antiquity to recent times. Over the last 25 years, researchers have initiated a dramatic expansion in theoretical approaches-both anthropological and classical. Over the same time span, a ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
We use the hybrid modeling laboratory of the Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics (MedLanD) Project to simulate barranco incision in eastern Spain under different scenarios of natural and human environmental change. We carry out a series of... more
We use the hybrid modeling laboratory of the Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics (MedLanD) Project to simulate barranco incision in eastern Spain under different scenarios of natural and human environmental change. We carry out a series of modeling experiments set in the Rio Penaguila valley of northern Alicante Province. The MedLanD Modeling Laboratory (MML) is able to realistically simulate gullying and incision in a multi-dimensional, spatially explicit virtual landscape. We first compare erosion modeled in wooded and denuded landscapes in the absence of human land-use. We then introduce simulated small-holder (e.g., prehistoric Neolithic) farmer/herders in six experiments, by varying community size (small, medium, large) and land management strategy (satisficing and maximizing). We compare the amount and location of erosion under natural and anthropogenic conditions. Natural (e.g., climatically induced) land-cover change produces a distinctly different signature of landscape evolution than does land-cover change produced by agropastoral land-use. Human land-use induces increased coupling between hillslopes and channels, resulting in increased downstream incision.
Research Interests: Landscape Ecology, Archaeology, Geomorphology, Geoarchaeology, Landscape Archaeology, and 8 moreEnvironmental modeling, Remote sensing and GIS applications in Landscape Research, Geo-spatial analysis with GIS and GPS, Mediterranean archaeology, Spain, Landscape and Land-use-history, Water and Soil Erosion Modeling, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Discourse on the origins and spread of domesticated species focuses on universal causal explanations or unique regional or temporal trajectories. Despite new data as to the context and physical processes of early domestication,... more
Discourse on the origins and spread of domesticated species focuses on universal causal explanations or unique regional or temporal trajectories. Despite new data as to the context and physical processes of early domestication, researchers still do not understand the types of system-level reorganizations required to transition from foraging to farming. Drawing upon dynamical systems theory and the concepts of attractors and repellors, we develop an understanding of subsistence transition and a description of variation in, and emergence of, human subsistence systems. The overlooked role of attractors and repellors in these systems helps explain why the origins of agriculture occurred quickly in some times and places, but slowly in others. A deeper understanding of the interactions of a limited set of variables that control the size of attractors (a proxy for resilience), such as population size, number of dry months, net primary productivity, and settlement fixity, provides new insights into the origin and spread of domesticated species in human economies.
Research Interests:
The evolution of Mediterranean landscapes during the Holocene has been increasingly governed by the complex interactions of water and human land use. Different land-use practices change the amount of water flowing across the surface and... more
The evolution of Mediterranean landscapes during the Holocene has been increasingly governed by the complex interactions of water and human land use. Different land-use practices change the amount of water flowing across the surface and infiltrating the soil, and change water’s ability to move surface sediments. Conversely, water amplifies the impacts of human land use and extends the ecological footprint of human activities far beyond the borders of towns and fields. Advances in computational modelling offer new tools to study the complex feedbacks between land use, land cover, topography and surface water. The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics project (MedLand) is building a modelling laboratory where experiments can be carried out on the long-term impacts of agropastoral land use, and whose results can be tested against the archaeological record.
These computational experiments are providing new insights into the socio-ecological consequences of human decisions at varying temporal and spatial scales.
These computational experiments are providing new insights into the socio-ecological consequences of human decisions at varying temporal and spatial scales.
Research Interests:
Archaeology has an opportunity to offer major contributions to our understanding of the long-term interactions of humans and the environment. To do so, we must elucidate dynamic socioecological processes that generally operate at regional... more
Archaeology has an opportunity to offer major contributions to our understanding of the long-term interactions of humans and the environment. To do so, we must elucidate dynamic socioecological processes that generally operate at regional scales. However, the archaeological record is sparse, discontinuous, and static. Recent advances in computational model- ing provide the potential for creating experimental laboratories where dynamic processes can be simulated and their results compared against the archaeological record. Coupling computational modeling with the empirical record in this way can increase the rigor of our explanations while making more transparent the concepts on which they are based. We offer an example of such an experimental laboratory to study the long-term effects of varying landuse practices by subsistence farm- ers on landscapes, and compare the results with the Levantine Neolithic archaeological record. Different combinations of intensive and shifting cultivation, ovicaprid grazing, and settlement size are modeled for the Wadi Ziqlab drainage of north- ern Jordan. The results offer insight into conditions under which previously successful (and sustainable) landuse practices can pass an imperceptible threshold and lead to undesirable landscape consequences. This may also help explain long-term social, economic, and settlement changes in the Neolithic of Southwest Asia.
Research Interests: Landscape Archaeology, Computational Modeling, Archaeological Method & Theory, Modeling, Agriculture, and 12 moreArchaeological GIS, Neolithic Archaeology, Modeling and Simulation, Landscapes in prehistory, Earth-Surface Processes, Environmental Sustainability, Remote sensing and GIS applications in Landscape Research, Human impacts on ancient environments, Geospatial landscape modeling, Erosion, Surface Process Modeling, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Research Interests:
Archaeologists can learn a great deal from the distribution of cultural evidence at various scales ranging from large regions, through small communities, down to individual households. Since in many societies a significant proportion of... more
Archaeologists can learn a great deal from the distribution of cultural evidence at various scales ranging from large regions, through small communities, down to individual households. Since in many societies a significant proportion of the human experience takes place within and around houses, houses play a prominent role in discussions of habitus. Yet archaeologists have also experienced challenges in their attempts to understand this habitus, especially when so many archaeological remains pertain to short-term activities that occurred near the end of a house’s use life, or even after, and may not even be typical. Focusing on the tiniest debris that accumulates over long periods may help us overcome these challenges, but many archaeologists have been reluctant to employ micro- refuse analysis because of the erroneous perception that the scale of effort it involves must be astronomical. The approach we demonstrate in this paper shows that careful consideration of sampling both in the field and in the lab makes it possible to detect robust patterns from persistent activities with a fraction of the effort that some previous analysts have employed. One of our key findings is that employing large numbers of volunteer counters, in combination with adequate quality assurance protocols, greatly facilitates this type of research.
Research Interests: Near Eastern Archaeology, Spatial Analysis, Practice theory, Archaeological GIS, Neolithic Archaeology, and 9 moreHabitus, Ancient Near East, Household Archaeology, Sampling (Mathematical Statistics), Microrefuse Analysis, Early Neolithic, Middle Neolithic, Late Neolithic, Late Neolithic, Longue durée, and Early Chalcolithic Wadi Rabah
Assessing the impact of prehistoric sites on their local environment is difficult to accomplish with standard archaeological methods. Simulation modeling offers a solution to this issue, but it is first necessary to delimit a site... more
Assessing the impact of prehistoric sites on their local environment is difficult to accomplish with standard archaeological methods. Simulation modeling offers a solution to this issue, but it is first necessary to delimit a site catchment, or “zone of impact”, around archaeological sites in which to carry out human–environment interaction modeling. To that end, I have developed a new method for GIS-based catchment reconstruction and distilled it into a custom module (r.catchment) for GRASS GIS, which calculates catchments of a given area based on anisotropic travel costs from a point of origin. One method of applying this new module in exploratory catchment modeling is discussed using the pastoral economy of the Late Neolithic period in Wadi Ziqlâb, Northern Jordan as a test case. A model of Late Neolithic herding economy and ecology is constructed, which combines data from archaeology, phytogeography, range science, agronomy, and ethnohistory. Four sizes of pastoral catchments are then derived using r.catchment, and the herd ecology model is used to estimate the stocking-rate (carrying capacity) of mixed goat and sheep herds for each catchment. The human populations these herd numbers could support (between 3 and 630 people in the Wadi) are then compared with human population estimates derived from household architectural analyses (between 18 and 54 people in the Wadi) to determine the most probable catchment configurations. The results indicate that the most probable zone of impact around the known Late Neolithic sites in Wadi Ziqlâb was somewhere between 9 and 20 square kilometers, delineated by 3 and 4.5 km pasture radii respectively.
Research Interests:
The archaeological record has been described as a key to the long-term consequences of human action that can help guide our decisions today. Yet the sparse and incomplete nature of this record often makes it impossible to inferentially... more
The archaeological record has been described as a key to the long-term consequences of human action that can help guide our decisions today. Yet the sparse and incomplete nature of this record often makes it impossible to inferentially reconstruct past societies in sufficient detail for them to serve as more than very general cautionary tales of coupled socio-ecological systems. However, when formal and computational modeling is used to experimentally simulate human socioecological dynamics, the empirical archaeological record can be used to validate and improve dynamic models of long term change. In this way, knowledge generated by archaeology can play a unique and valuable role in developing the tools to make more informed decisions that will shape our future. The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics project offers an example of using the past to develop and test computational models of interactions between land-use and landscape evolution that ultimately may help guide decision-making.
Research Interests: Simulation (Computer Science), Mediterranean prehistory, Computational Modelling, Agent Based Simulation, Archaeological GIS, and 10 moreModeling and Simulation, Pastoral landscapes (Archaeology), Complex Adaptive Systems, Human-Environment Interactions, Multi-Agent Systems, Socioecology, Socioecological Systems, Agropastoral Systems, Socionatural Systems, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
The chapter focus is on spatial aspects of erosion processes and their modeling using Geospatial Information Science principles and tools. The mathematical, statistical and physics foundations of erosion models are introduced and... more
The chapter focus is on spatial aspects of erosion processes and their modeling using Geospatial Information Science principles and tools. The mathematical, statistical and physics foundations of erosion models are introduced and simplified cases, suitable for Geographic Information System (GIS) implementation are derived. Coupling of complex models with GIS is discussed and examples of GIS implementation of simple and advanced models is presented. Regression and statistical modeling approaches are also included. The concepts and methods are illustrated using several case studies at different scales, levels of detail and complexity. Visualization of the modeling results includes dynamic surfaces and innovative Tangible Geospatial Modeling System. Future directions in geospatial erosion modeling are discussed, reflecting the new developments in mapping and monitoring technologies.
Keywords: geospatial modeling, landscape evolution, regression analysis, rills, soil erosion, sediment routing
Keywords: geospatial modeling, landscape evolution, regression analysis, rills, soil erosion, sediment routing
Research Interests:
Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) of social actors or social systems is a new and exciting tool kit in the arsenal of computational archaeology. However, traditional ABM techniques alone are not adequate for those computational archaeologists... more
Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) of social actors or social systems is a new and exciting tool kit in the arsenal of computational archaeology. However, traditional ABM techniques alone are not adequate for those computational archaeologists interested in modeling human-environment interaction. This goal can be accomplished by coupling ABM modeling of human land-use decision-making with a dynamic and spatially explicit Landscape Process Model (LPM). Agent movement across the landscape is often only implicitly considered during the construction of hybrid models of social and environmental systems (coupled ABM-LPM's). In fact, movement modeling is a vitally important component of this coupling, and determines the scope of possible locations of specific human interactions with the environment.
This chapter will first examine the various ways in which movement modeling has been utilized in ABM and coupled ABM-LPM, and then will describe the model developed by the MedLanD project, before laying out the experimental case study. The case study will model the long term effects of four contrasting village locations in the Penaguila Valley in Eastern Spain (Figure 9.1). The study will use a five-meter spatial resolution DEM for the region, and will model the economic, social, and environmental trajectories of the four different village locations over a hundred years of village-based agropastoralism.
This chapter will first examine the various ways in which movement modeling has been utilized in ABM and coupled ABM-LPM, and then will describe the model developed by the MedLanD project, before laying out the experimental case study. The case study will model the long term effects of four contrasting village locations in the Penaguila Valley in Eastern Spain (Figure 9.1). The study will use a five-meter spatial resolution DEM for the region, and will model the economic, social, and environmental trajectories of the four different village locations over a hundred years of village-based agropastoralism.
Research Interests:
The evolution of Mediterranean landscapes during the Holocene has been increasingly governed by the complex interactions of water and human land use. Different land-use practices change the amount of water flowing across the surface and... more
The evolution of Mediterranean landscapes during the Holocene has been increasingly governed by the complex interactions of water and human land use. Different land-use practices change the amount of water flowing across the surface and infiltrating the soil, and change water’s ability to move surface sediments. Conversely, water amplifies the impacts of human land use and extends the ecological footprint of human activities far beyond the borders of towns and fields. Advances in computational modelling offer new tools to study the complex feedbacks between land use, land cover, topography and surface water. The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics project (MedLand) is building a modelling laboratory where experiments can be carried out on the long-term impacts of agropastoral land use, and whose results can be tested against the archaeological record.
These computational experiments are providing new insights into the socio-ecological consequences of human decisions at varying temporal and spatial scales.
These computational experiments are providing new insights into the socio-ecological consequences of human decisions at varying temporal and spatial scales.
Research Interests:
Archaeology has an opportunity to offer major contributions to our understanding of the long- term interactions of humans and the environment. To do so, we must elucidate dynamic socioecological processes that generally operate at... more
Archaeology has an opportunity to offer major contributions to our understanding of the long- term interactions of humans
and the environment. To do so, we must elucidate dynamic socioecological processes that generally operate at regional
scales. However, the archaeological record is sparse, discontinuous, and static. Recent advances in computational modeling provide the potential for creating experimental laboratories where dynamic processes can be simulated and their results compared against the archaeological record. Coupling computational modeling with the empirical record in this way can increase the rigor of our explanations while making more transparent the concepts on which they are based. We offer an example of such an experimental laboratory to study the long- term effects of varying landuse practices by subsistence farmers on landscapes, and compare the results with the Levantine Neolithic archaeological record. Different combinations of
intensive and shifting cultivation, ovicaprid grazing, and settlement size are modeled for the Wadi Ziqlab drainage of northern Jordan. The results offer insight into conditions under which previously successful (and sustainable) landuse practices can pass an imperceptible threshold and lead to undesirable landscape consequences. This may also help explain long- term social, economic, and settlement changes in the Neolithic of Southwest Asia.
and the environment. To do so, we must elucidate dynamic socioecological processes that generally operate at regional
scales. However, the archaeological record is sparse, discontinuous, and static. Recent advances in computational modeling provide the potential for creating experimental laboratories where dynamic processes can be simulated and their results compared against the archaeological record. Coupling computational modeling with the empirical record in this way can increase the rigor of our explanations while making more transparent the concepts on which they are based. We offer an example of such an experimental laboratory to study the long- term effects of varying landuse practices by subsistence farmers on landscapes, and compare the results with the Levantine Neolithic archaeological record. Different combinations of
intensive and shifting cultivation, ovicaprid grazing, and settlement size are modeled for the Wadi Ziqlab drainage of northern Jordan. The results offer insight into conditions under which previously successful (and sustainable) landuse practices can pass an imperceptible threshold and lead to undesirable landscape consequences. This may also help explain long- term social, economic, and settlement changes in the Neolithic of Southwest Asia.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper examines the spread of microartifacts from house floors during two consecutive occupational phases at the Late Neolithic (5706-5542 to 5276-5072 cal BC, [Banning 2007]) site of Tabaqat al-Buma in Northern Jordan (Figure 1).... more
This paper examines the spread of microartifacts from house floors during two consecutive occupational phases at the Late Neolithic (5706-5542 to 5276-5072 cal BC, [Banning 2007]) site of Tabaqat al-Buma in Northern Jordan (Figure 1). Samples were collected from spatially contiguous grid-cells across the entirety of the intact portions of the floors. These data are then examined via a series of spatial techniques using the computing power of a modern GIS software platform (GRASS GIS [GRASS Development Team 2009]) and combined with information derived from spatial analyses of larger artifact types and architecture to gain a more holistic understanding of how the use of interior space changed at the site over time.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Pastoralism, as a productive subsistence strategy, originated in the Near East (goats and sheep) and North Africa (cattle) in the Neolithic, and subsequently spread from those areas to most of the Old World over the course of the late... more
Pastoralism, as a productive subsistence strategy, originated in the Near East (goats and sheep) and North Africa (cattle) in the Neolithic, and subsequently spread from those areas to most of the Old World over the course of the late Holocene. In areas where farming preceded herding, domestic herd animals were incorporated into an established economic system that was based on delayed returns, food production, and that required sedentary habitation for at least part of the year.
Over the last decade, the Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics Project has integrated complex systems concepts with computer simulation and empirical data in research on early farming systems. We have developed a computational laboratory,... more
Over the last decade, the Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics Project has integrated complex systems concepts with computer simulation and empirical data in research on early farming systems. We have developed a computational laboratory, composed of multiple interacting models that are dynamically and recursively linked. to study how small-holder Social-Ecological Systems (SES) grow and change over time, how they react to major system state change, and how specific system variables affect the trajectories of these SES over space and time. Here, we apply this approach to questions of temporal and spatial scale related to the drivers and consequences of long-term change in SES. In particular, we examine how spatio-temporal “misalignment” between sub-systems can generate social-environmental variability and feedbacks in early SES. We present a theoretical framework for the development and consequences of these mismatches over the long term, with particular attention paid to the development of early farming SES. Related to this, we also consider how the scale of observation affects our interpretation of apparent change in these SES. We use examples from experiments conducted in our modeling laboratory to illustrate these concepts.
Research Interests: Complex Systems Science, Coupled Human and Natural Systems, Complexity Theory, Agent Based Simulation, Neolithic Archaeology, and 10 moreSocio-Natural Environments, Modeling and Simulation, Socio-ecological system dynamics, Agent-based modeling, Complex Adaptive Systems, Simulation, Complexity, Complex Adaptive Systems, Human Systems Dynamics, Socio-Ecological Systems, System Modeling and Simulation, and Coupled Natural and Human Systems
Paper presented in the symposium “Multi-scalar Approaches to Archaeological Interpretation” at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, TX. April 23-27, 2014
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Paper presented in the symposium “Environmental Change: Data, Processes, and Integrated Modeling” at the 20th Annual Meeting of the European Archaeological Association, Istanbul, Turkey. September 10-14, 2014.
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Paper presented in the symposium “Paleolithic Paradigms: Papers in Honor of Geoffrey Clark” at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, TX. April 23-27, 2014
Research Interests:
This is an agent-based model of a potential scenario for the forager-farmer transition. It is parameterized for a millet/deer ecosystem (east Asia), but could apply to any hunting/seed gathering system if parameterized accordingly. Rather... more
This is an agent-based model of a potential scenario for the forager-farmer transition. It is parameterized for a millet/deer ecosystem (east Asia), but could apply to any hunting/seed gathering system if parameterized accordingly. Rather than use an existing ABM or other modeling framework, I have written it in pure Python, both as a fun exercise for me, and with the hope of better integration to scientific Python (e.g., pandas, matplotlib) and the open-science movement.
Research Interests: Coupled Human and Natural Systems, Simulation (Computer Science), Social-Ecological Systems, Agent Based Simulation, Neolithic Archaeology, and 16 moreSocio-Natural Environments, Modeling and Simulation, Plant domestication (Prehistoric Archaeology), Neolithic Transition, Mesolithic/Neolithic, Ancient Agriculture & Farming (Archaeology), Neolithic, Animal domestication, Simulation, Early Neolithic, Domestication, Younger Dryas, Social and Ecological Sustainability, Epipaleolithic-Neolithic transition, Crop domestication, and Social aspects of food production and ecological farming systems
Percolation Theory The behaviour of interconnected clusters in spatial lattices can provide insights into adaptive-sampling protocols applied to two-dimensional scatters of artifacts. In percolation theory, the cells in a lattice, like... more
Percolation Theory The behaviour of interconnected clusters in spatial lattices can provide insights into adaptive-sampling protocols applied to two-dimensional scatters of artifacts. In percolation theory, the cells in a lattice, like the rectangular grid that archaeologists use to sample with SSTs, can be " occupied " or " empty, " and the probability that any node is occupied is p and the probability that it is empty (has no artifacts) is 1-p. Clusters consist of occupied cells linked by adjacency, but can also have " holes " in them. In a 2D lattice, values of p greater than about 0.7 — the critical threshold — lead to a continuous cluster that extends all across the lattice. The Simulations We use GRASS to generate simulated distributions of artifacts, both random and clustered into " sites, " and to simulate 100 iterations of adaptive shovel testing. The random distributions are Poisson, while the " sites " have a higher internal density, with a more diffuse background scatter. The SST plans began with an initial placement of 30cm SSTs at 5m intervals, a second interation of four SSTs at 2.5m intervals in the cardinal neighborhoods of positive SSTs, and a third iteration of up to three SSTs at 2.5m intervals in the neighborhoods of new positives. At each subsequent iteration, we randomly shift the x-and y-axis of the 5m grid to repeat the adaptive sampling plan. We performed experiments with four random distributions, and four " site " distributions for a total of eight experiments and in these results assume that intersection yields detection. We repeated each experiment 100 times, with a new randomize grid placement each time. Results: Interpolated clusters of adjacent cells that the adaptive plan finds co-occur with " sites " when the background is low, but clusters found are typically more numerous and smaller than " real " clusters. On average, the plan yielded more negatives than positives within site boundaries when site density was 5/m 2 , but more positives than negatives when it was 10/m 2. As predicted by percolation theory, only 40% of initial SSTs that intersected sites were positive when artifact density within those clusters was 5 artifacts/m 2 .