The Role of Agent-Based Modeling in Archaeology

Summary

Published applications of Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) in archaeology have tripled within the last five years. However, the scope of the research topics investigated has not increased accordingly. A consensus exists among ABM practitioners, that once generally accepted in archaeology, ABM can make revolutionary advances within the overall research paradigm. Within the archaeological community unresolved concerns center on whether ABMs are sufficiently grounded in empirical data, are aligned with theoretical trajectories, and on the difficult task of mastering the computational systems. It is worth exploring these aspects of the disjuncture between the mainstream and ABM practitioners for two reasons--to frame a discussion of qualities of ABM that make it transformative and to provide guidelines for broadening ABM’s applicability.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Computational approaches in the practice of archaeology

Keywords