Systems of Interaction between the First Sedentary Villages in the Near East Exposed Using Agent-Based Modelling of Obsidian Exchange

David Ortega,Daniel Campos,Juan Ibáñez,Lamya Khalidi,Luís Teira,Vicenç Méndez

doi:10.3390/systems4020018

Abstract

In the Near East, nomadic hunter-gatherer societies became sedentary farmers for the first time during the transition into the Neolithic. Sedentary life presented a risk of isolation for Neolithic groups. As fluid intergroup interactions are crucial for the sharing of information, resources and genes, Neolithic villages developed a network of contacts. In this paper we study obsidian exchange between Neolithic villages in order to characterize this network of interaction. Using agent-based modelling and elements taken from complex network theory, we model obsidian exchange and compare results with archaeological data. We demonstrate that complex networks of interaction were established at the outset of the Neolithic and hypothesize that the existence of these complex networks was a necessary condition for the success and spread of a new way of living.

Highlights

The Neolithic represents one of the most important shifts in human history
Using agent-based modelling (ABM), whereby agents are equivalent to Neolithic villages, we explore the relevance of different variables that may have had a role in systems of obsidian exchange
In order to understand the influence of the network of exchange in our model and to compare our model with the archaeological data, we have restricted the magnitudes in the variability compare our model with the archaeological data, we have restricted the magnitudes in the variability of the three main parameters, and established the limits between which these parameters could have of the three main parameters, and established the limits between which these parameters could have reasonably varied during the beginnings of the Neolithic

Summary

Introduction

The Neolithic represents one of the most important shifts in human history During this period, hunter-gatherers became farmers and began living in sedentary villages, depending on agriculture and livestock. Crescent comprising Mesopotamia, the Taurus and Zagros Mountains and the Levant [1,2,3] This process is first attested between 12,000 and 10,000 BC, when the last hunter-gatherers began to have more sedentary ways of life, gradually acquiring forms of economic and social complexity. By the end of this period, domesticates prevailed over wild resources in the everyday lives and diets of PPNB societies. It is at the end of this period (around 7000 BC) that this new way of life expanded towards

Methods

Results

Conclusion