Nonlinear Models for Archaeology and Anthropology: Continuing the Revolution

by Beekman,Christopher S.

• ISBN13: 9780754643197
• ISBN10: 0754643190
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The dominant social theory used by archaeologists has tended to focus on either small scale agency or large-scale cultural patterns and processes of change. The authors of this volume argue that archaeologists should use nonlinear models to more accurately model the connections between scales of analysis, and show how micro-scale variation can lead to macro-scale cultural change. This work examines the applications of nonlinear systems models within archaeology and evaluates the range of approaches currently encompassed within Complexity Theory.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
List of Tables	ix
List of Contributors	xi
Preface	xv
Acknowledgements	xvii
Continuing the Revolution	1	(12)
Christopher S. Beekman
William W. Baden
As Water for Fish: Human Groups as Complex Ecaptive Systems	13	(22)
Robert J. Hommon
Remember How to Organize: Heterarchy Across Disciplines	35	(16)
Carole L. Crumley
Agency, Collectivities, and Emergence: Social Theory and Agent Based Simulations	51	(28)
Christopher S. Beekman
Factional Formation and Community Dynamics in Middle-Range Societies	79	(16)
Tammy Stone
Modelling Prehistoric Maize Agriculture as a Dissipative Process	95	(28)
William W. Baden
Approaches to Modelling Archaeological Site Territories in the Near East	123	(16)
T.J. Wilkinson
Afterword	139	(8)
J. Stephen Lansing
Robert L. Axtell
Bibliography	147	(30)
Index	177