Hans Reschreiter

Agent-based modeling and simulation in archaeology

Introduction.- Explaining the past with ABM: On modeling philosophy.- Agent-based modeling in archaeology.- Why agent-based modeling?.- Ontological considerations: Emergence and rationality.- Epistemic considerations: how to learn by agent-based Modeling.- Summary.- References.- Modeling Archaeology: Origins of the Artificial Anasazi Project and Beyond.- Introduction.- Structure of the Artificial Anasazi (AA) model.- Selected socio-ecological models similar to Artificial Anasazi.- Current efforts - The ALHV model.- Discussion and conclusions.- References.- Methods.- Agent-Based Simulation in Archaeology: A Characterization.- Motivation and Classification of Computer Models.- Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling.- General Advantages and Disadvantages of Agent-Based Models.- References.- Reproducibility.- Introduction.- Outline.- Lifecycle of a Modeling and Simulation Study.- Parameter and Output Definition.- Documentation.- Verification and Validation.- Verification and Validation specifically targeted at Agent-Based Models.- Conclusion.- References.- Geosimulation: Modeling Spatial Processes.- Introduction.- Society and Space: Dealing with Intangible Assets and Infrastructures.- Scale and Process: Taking Relations and Interdependencies into Consideration.- ABM and GIS: Coupling techniques of different methodological domains.- Conclusion.- References.- Large simulations and small societies: High performance computing for archaeological simulations.- Introduction.- Background.- Developing HPC-based simulations.- Computational solutions of methodological problems.- Concluding remarks.- References.- Applications.- Mining with Agents: Modeling prehistoric mining and prehistoric economy.- Introduction.- The Prehistoric Salt Mine of Hallstatt/Upper Austria.- Agent-Based Simulation of Mining.- Implementation.- Experimentation.- Discussion.- Extensions: Towards Prehistoric Economy.- Conclusions and Future Work.- References.- Modeling settlement rank-size fluctuations.- Introduction.- Background.- Model Design.- Results.- Conclusions.- References.- Understanding the Iron Age Economy: Sustainability of Agricultural Practices under Stable Population Growth.- Introduction.- Methodological approach.- Data resources and modeling inputs.- Models.- Discussion.- Conclusion.- References.- Simulating Patagonian Territoriality in Prehistory: Space, Frontiers and Networks among hunter-gatherers.- Introduction.- From Ethnicity to Territoriality.- Beginning of Times at the End of the World: Patagonia.- An Agent-based Simulation Model for Understanding the Emergence of Patagonian Ethnicity and Territoriality.- Running the Model: Preliminary Results.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Summary and Outlook.- How did sugarscape become a whole society model?.- Introduction.- The realist-generalist ancestral form.- The realist-particularist approach.- The realist-abstract border.- The abstract-generalist approach.- Conclusion.- References.

Biodeterioration Risk Threatens the 3100 Year Old Staircase of Hallstatt (Austria): Possible Involvement of Halophilic Microorganisms

Background The prosperity of Hallstatt (Salzkammergut region, Austria) is based on the richness of salt in the surrounding mountains and salt mining, which is documented as far back as 1500 years B.C. Substantial archaeological evidence of Bronze and Iron Age salt mining has been discovered, with a wooden staircase (1108 B.C.) being one of the most impressive and well preserved finds. However, after its discovery, fungal mycelia have been observed on the surface of the staircase, most probably due to airborne contamination after its find. Objective As a basis for the further preservation of this valuable object, the active micro-flora was examined to investigate the presence of potentially biodegradative microorganisms. Results Most of the strains isolated from the staircase showed to be halotolerant and halophilic microorganisms, due to the saline environment of the mine. Results derived from culture-dependent assays revealed a high fungal diversity, including both halotolerant and halophilic fungi, the most dominant strains being members of the genus Phialosimplex (synonym: Aspergillus). Additionally, some typical cellulose degraders, namely Stachybotrys sp. and Cladosporium sp. were detected. Numerous bacterial strains were isolated and identified as members of 12 different genera, most of them being moderately halophilic species. The most dominant isolates affiliated with species of the genera Halovibrio and Marinococcus. Halophilic archaea were also isolated and identified as species of the genera Halococcus and Halorubrum. Molecular analyses complemented the cultivation assays, enabling the identification of some uncultivable archaea of the genera Halolamina, Haloplanus and Halobacterium. Results derived from fungi and bacteria supported those obtained by cultivation methods, exhibiting the same dominant members in the communities. Conclusion The results clearly showed the presence of some cellulose degraders that may become active if the requirements for growth and the environmental conditions turn suitable; therefore, these microorganisms must be regarded as a threat to the wood.

Modelling Prehistoric Mining

Abstract Mining structures are among the most complex economic systems in prehistory. Until recently, research into prehistoric production processes has strongly focused on technological reconstruction. The complexity of production processes, their interconnectedness with the surrounding socioeconomic network and issues of quantification have, quite regrettably, been addressed to a much lesser extent. Simulation can contribute important insights into the latter problem areas, however, the lack of consistent methodological discussion on data collection, model building and comparability of results still represents a significant gap in research, which we address in our work.

Mining with Agents: Modelling Prehistoric Mining and Prehistoric Economy

Mining structures are among the most complex economic systems in prehistory. Until recently, research into prehistoric production processes has strongly focused on technological reconstruction. The complexity of production processes, their interconnectedness with the surrounding socioeconomic network and issues of quantification have, quite regrettably, been addressed to a much lesser extent. Simulation can contribute important insights into the latter problem areas, which is why we have been applying it to the prehistoric salt mines of Hallstatt (Upper Austria) during the past years. In this chapter, we report on these simulation efforts and show how a multi-level simulation approach can augment archaeological understanding during everyday research work.

Bronze Age meat industry: ancient mitochondrial DNA analyses of pig bones from the prehistoric salt mines of Hallstatt (Austria)

ObjectiveIn the Bronze Age Hallstatt metropolis (‘Salzkammergut’ region, Upper Austria), salt richness enabled the preservation of pork meat to sustain people’s livelihood suggesting an organized meat production industry on a yearly basis of hundreds of pigs. To pattern the geographic and temporal framework of the early management of pig populations in the surrounding areas of Hallstatt, we want to gain insights into the phylogeographic network based on DNA sequence variation among modern pigs, wild boars and prehistoric (likely) domestic pigs.ResultsIn this pilot study, we successfully adapted ancient DNA extraction and sequencing approaches for the analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence variation in ten prehistoric porcine teeth specimens. Minimum-spanning network analyses revealed unique mitochondrial control region DNA haplotypes ranging within the variation of modern domestic pig and wild boar lineages and even shared haplotypes between prehistoric and modern domestic pigs and wild boars were observed.

Agent-based Modelling and Simulation for Population Dynamics under Agricultural Constraints in Prehistoric Hallstatt: Hints for a Second Settlement

This contribution is an outcome of a project cooperation between the Museum of Natural History Vienna and the Vienna University of Technology. The museum investigates since many years the prehistoric salt mines in Hallstatt, Austria, by classical archaeological methods, by experimental archaeology, and by modelling and simulation, which partly ca be seen as virtual experimental archaeology. This contribution continues investigations on modelling agricultural constraints for population size in prehistoric Hallstatt, presented in a previous conference publication. As modelling and simulation approach agent-based simulation is used, as well for the mining process, and for the supply including food production, and for the environment. First, the supply for the mining process is studied. The main focus is on the food production and its time consumption which is needed to feed all people working and living in prehistoric Hallstatt. This time consumption consists at one hand of the actual time used for seeding, mowing and harvesting and on the other hand more importantly of the time used for traveling to the fields and harvesting the goods. To simulate the traveling time an A* algorithm is used, also for the traveling time needed for the miners to get to the mine. Also the supply process of felling and transporting trees to the mine as well as chipping the wood to produce wood chips for lighting purposes is part of the simulation. Experiments with the model try to localize suitable areas for the prehistoric Hallstatt village with interesting outcome: the simulation ‘suggests’ a subdivision of the population into a village near the mine and another village at the location of today’s Hallstatt. Introduction Hallstatt is famous for its prehistoric salt mine which is of great interest for archaeologists. The special interest comes along with very well conserved finds which results of the great conserving effect of salt and the collapse of the salt mine in the 13 century B.C. Some of these finds are very special tools and it is hard to understand in which way they were used. Not at last to get a better understanding of the way these tools were used a cooperation between the Museum of Natural History Vienna and the Vienna University of Technology was formed and this work is part of it. For instance a bronze pick which was investigated with the help of simulation in another project [1]. This work mainly focuses on the food production of the population of Hallstatt. It continues previous work on modelling agricultural constraints for population size in prehistoric Hallstatt, which studies how many people could have lived in Hallstatt if it is assumed that all food was produced locally [2]. The fields considered in this preliminary work are the same as used in this work. A result of this work is that 72 persons could have been fed of the food provided by these fields. This number of persons is used in the following as the population size. The population size is an essential parameter for this work because it directly influences the time needed to work on the fields. The model which is used for this investigation is an agent-based one [3] and is implemented in Anylogic [4]. Simulation Notes Europe SNE 26(1), 2016, 41 46 DOI: 10.11128/sne.26.tn.10327 Received: November 20, 2015; Revised: March 3, 2016; Accepted: March 10, 2016; Tanzler et al. Agent-based simulation about settlements in prehistoric Hallstatt 42 SNE 26(1) – 3/2016 TN