Potential Applications for Agent-Based Models in Obsidian Studies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeologists have been using agent-based modelling (ABM) to re-create prehistoric social, economic, and political processes, along with prehistoric environments since the first publication of the model commonly known as "Artificial Anasazi." Very few archaeologists have attempted to model prehistoric lithic technology, however, and the handful of existing models have examined only raw material procurement and the formation of lithic assemblages. While not every aspect of lithic technology may be appropriate to model, the present paper describes the potential for ABM to further our understanding of many aspects of obsidian technology and the post-depositional movement of stone tools and debitage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23483