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

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

This work was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy (grants SimulPast-CSD-2010-00034, HAR2013-47480-P and FIS2012-32334)

MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

Manager: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Espanya)
Author: Ortega Cobos, David
Ibáñez, Juan José
Campos, Daniel
Khalidi, Lamya
Méndez López, Vicenç
Teira, Luís
Date: 2018 June 5
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
This work was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy (grants SimulPast-CSD-2010-00034, HAR2013-47480-P and FIS2012-32334)
Document access: http://hdl.handle.net/2072/319240
Language: eng
Publisher: MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)
Rights: Attribution 4.0 Spain
Rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/es/
Subject: Neolític -- Orient Mitjà
Neolithic period -- Middle East
Obsidiana -- Comerç
Obsidian -- Commerce
Title: Systems of Interaction between the First Sedentary Villages in the Near East Exposed Using Agent-Based Modelling of Obsidian Exchange
Type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Repository: Recercat

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