We use archaeological data on house sizes to generate estimates for economic inequality and economic growth from near the beginning of the Holocene to about the first millennium AD. At worldwide scales these variables are positively related, but patterns are more divergent at regional levels....

We use archaeological data on house sizes to generate estimates for economic inequality and economic growth from near the beginning of the Holocene to about the first millennium AD. At worldwide scales these variables are positively related, but patterns are more divergent at regional levels....

We introduce a model for agent specialization in small-scale human societies that incorporates planning based on social influence and economic state. Agents allocate their time among available tasks based on exchange, demand, competition from other agents, family needs, and previous experiences....

We present an agent-based model for voluntaristic processes allowing the emergence of leadership in small-scale societies, parameterized to apply to Pueblo societies of the northern US Southwest between AD 600 and 1300. We embed an evolutionary public-goods game in a spatial simulation of...

The collapse of ancient societies such as the Mesa Verde-region pre-Hispanic Pueblos has puzzled generations of scientists. Many explanations for particular cases have been suggested, from combinations of social, political and economic factors (Tainter 1988), to climatic factors such as drought....

Reciprocity is an ancient and important social practice that evolved in very small-scale societies. In this paper we present an abstract model of the way systems work that are organized through balanced reciprocity (Sahlins 1972:185-275). This model will help us understand the general nature of...

With state-level societies in mind, Bruce Trigger (1990) characterized monuments as a form of conspicuous consumption flaunting the ability of the elite to defy the principles of least-effort that are so important in structuring other aspects of social and economic organization. The prehistoric...

The object of the workshop was to discuss and demonstrate the modeling of artificial societies and to suggest its potential for extending our knowledge about the prehistoric Southwest. Our efforts are part of the much larger questions anthropologists have asked for generations concerning how...