Unraveling Ancient Technology: A New Approach for Measuring Complexity

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• Sebastian Fajardo Bernal (Leiden University)
• Friday 22 November 2024, 13:15-14:00
• Seminar Room, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Downing Site.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Joe Lewis.

Archaeologists and anthropologists study technologies and their production systems to understand the complexity of socio-technical systems. However, defining complexity and systematically comparing production systems pose several challenges. In this talk, we will introduce an approach using Petri nets to evaluate the behavioral and structural complexity of production systems. Petri nets are formal models that overcome several limitations of current methods, such as sequential logic and the inability to model activities and resources separately. The talk will present two case studies: modeling Petri nets for traditional adhesive production by the Ju/’hoan in Namibia and three potential methods for birch tar production by Neanderthals. For adhesive production in Nambia, simulations revealed a significant increase in possible states with the addition of more individuals but a reduction in complexity via changes in location, highlighting the complexity in resource gathering and processing. In the ancient birch tar case, the results showed differences in information retention, error likelihood, and process understanding, with no method emerging as the most complex in all dimensions. Petri nets offer a systematic way to visualize and analyze ancient production systems, accounting for concurrency and possible relations with cognitive requirements. These first findings suggest that the complexity of ancient technologies stems from multiple variables, and measuring it in terms of ‘more’ or ‘less’ is insufficient. This approach adds valuable insight into the study of ancient production systems and their impact on past societies.

In person and online.

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Sebastian Fajardo is a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Computing at Leiden University. His work focuses on understanding the relationships between community formation, settlement patterns, and technological complexity, aiming to identify structural and behavioral variables that drive human adaptation. With expertise in basic research, environmental impact assessment, and cultural heritage management, he employs a range of analytical methods including quantitative and qualitative analysis, geospatial analysis, statistical analysis, network analysis, machine learning, and computational modeling. He also conducts fieldwork in both Colombia and Zambia.

This talk is part of the Pitt-Rivers Archaeological Science Seminar Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• AUB_Cambridge Seminars
• Pitt-Rivers Archaeological Science Seminar Series
• Seminar Room, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Downing Site

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