Abstract
The Artificial Anasazi (AA) agent-based simulation model was one of the first agent-based models to address archaeological questions. It grew out of a unique interdisciplinary collaboration between archaeologists/anthropologists (George Gumerman, Jeffrey Dean, Alan Swedlund), computational social scientists (Robert Axtell, Joshua Epstein), and computer modelers (Steve McCarroll, Miles Parker). This chapter describes the kinds of archaeological questions the AA model was designed to address and the ability of the model to answer those questions, as well as an extension of the model that incorporates individual-level age-specific fertility and mortality rates (the Artificial Long House Valley, or ALHV model). We also provide a brief overview of other archaeologically oriented agent-based simulation models and describe how they relate to the AA model. We conclude with a discussion of future directions for the AA and ALHV models as well as suggestions for further research on archaeological questions for which agent-based computer simulations may be especially suitable.
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Notes
- 1.
Although the environmental data are exceptionally fine-grained and detailed, they and the Artificial Anasazi model are not set within a continuous GIS spatial framework.
- 2.
Note: although within the model this is specified through the naming of variables as reproduction, it is reproduction at the household, not individual level.
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Acknowledgements
Jeff Dean, Rob Axtell, Josh Epstein, and Miles Parker were key players in the original development of the Artificial Anasazi model. This paper and the ongoing work with the model would not be possible without their contributions.This work was made possible by support of the Santa Fe Institute and by the two senior authors’ attendance as Short Term Visitors at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), an Institute sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Homeland Security, and the US Department of Agriculture through NSF Awards #EF-0832858 and #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Swedlund, A.C., Sattenspiel, L., Warren, A.L., Gumerman, G.J. (2015). Modeling Archaeology: Origins of the Artificial Anasazi Project and Beyond. In: Wurzer, G., Kowarik, K., Reschreiter, H. (eds) Agent-based Modeling and Simulation in Archaeology. Advances in Geographic Information Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00008-4_2
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