J. Daniel Rogers

Agent-Based Modeling Simulation of Social Adaptation and Long-Term Change in Inner Asia

We present a new international project to develop temporally and spatially calibrated agent-based models of the rise and fall of polities in Inner Asia (Central Eurasia) in the past 5,000 years. Gaps in theory, data, and computational models for explaining long-term sociopolitical change—both growth and decay—motivate this project. We expect three contributions: (1) new theoreticallygrounded simulation models validated and calibrated by the best available data; (2) a new long-term cross-cultural database with several data sets; and (3) new conceptual, theoretical, and methodological contributions for understanding social complexity and long-term change and adaptation in real and artificial societies. Our theoretical framework is based on explaining sociopolitical evolution by the process of “canonical variation”.

The contingencies of state formation in eastern inner Asia

Three key themes consistently play a role in the study of early state formation in eastern Inner Asia. First, scholars have frequently argued that China exerted a disproportionately strong influence on steppe polities, serving as a source of goods and ideas for neighboring pastoralist societies. Although Chinese states did very significantly influence steppe polities, interactions were complex and highly variable. Rather than being dominated by Chinese states, exchanges and interactions were often on a level of parity or were under the control of the steppe polities. It is frequently argued that the fragility of the pastoralist economy required steppe polities to acquire agricultural products, which in turn fostered a dependency on agricultural societies in the south. New evidence, however, suggests that the traditional distinction between pastoralist and agriculturalist economies may be insuficient to characterize the complex sets of interactions. Second, steppe polities are often described as short-lived entities that succeeded each other in rapid succession. This description deemphasizes the economic and cultural continuity that transcended the rise and fall of individual political entities. The third theme concerns the construction and maintenance of order. How, in other words, did rulers legitimate their power and maintain political and organizational control of populations and territories? Most interpretations argue that steppe polities looked to neighboring states for the cultural knowledge that allowed them to create and maintain order. That knowledge, however, came from multiple sources—especially the internal traditions that linked successive steppe polities.

Mesoamerican origin for an obsidian scraper from the Precolumbian southeastern United States

EDXRF analysis of an obsidian scraper from the Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma, shows that the source material was from Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico. Given the distinctive peralkaline character of the obsidian, the source assignment is considered extremely secure. The artifact was recovered from the east tunnel of Craig Mound, Spiro, immediately after the cessation of commercial digging in 1935, and has been in the Smithsonian’s collections since 1937. Despite more than 150 years of speculation regarding supposed contact with and influence from the region, this represents the first documented example of Mesoamerican material from any Mississippian archaeological context in the Precolumbian southeastern United States.

The MASON HouseholdsWorld Model of Pastoral Nomad Societies

Computational modeling of pastoralist societies that range as nomads over diverse environmental zones poses interesting challenges beyond those posed by sedentary societies. We present HouseholdsWorld, a new agent-based model of agro-pastoralists in a natural habitat that includes deserts, grasslands, and mountains. This is the paper-of-record for the HouseholdsWorld model as part of a broader interdisciplinary project on computational modeling of long-term human adaptations in Inner Asia. The model is used for conducting experiments on socio-environmental interactions, social dynamics experiments, and for developing additional models with higher levels of social complexity.

Historical Dynamics in the Contact Era

The 500-year anniversary of the dramatic encounter of Old and New World peoples initiated by the Columbian voyages lends a somewhat artificial perspective to the phenomenon of “culture contact.” Although this volume and, to an extent, our individual research interests are conditioned by the quincentenary of a remarkable event, we are primarily interested in the contact period as the beginning of an extended process of mutual discovery and cultural change that continues to the present day.

The Social and Material Implications of Culture Contact on the Northern Plains

It is generally assumed in many studies of culture contact that the interaction process is primarily motivated by the goals of the more powerful intruders. Especially when considering the objects traded to native peoples, it is often assumed that an overwhelming desire existed for acquiring the exotic Euro-goods; after all, who would not want the products of European ingenuity? In recent years, however, a more realistic view of the role of objects in the interaction process, and trade in general, has emerged in studies that combine both eth-nohistorical and archaeological information in contact period research (e.g., Fitzhugh 1985; Rogers 1990:2–4; Thomas 1985). For instance, several researchers have noted that trade-good acceptance is selective and fluctuates on the basis of varied sociocultural and economic criteria (e.g., Fitzgerald 1986; Hamell 1983; Spicer 1952; Stanislawski 1978:202; Washburn 1967; Wolf 1982:4). This perspective recognizes that the simple availability of trade materials is not an adequate basis for understanding native acceptance or rejection of these items. As the trader Tabeau (Abel 1939:163) noted for the early contact period on the Northern Plains: None of these nations values our merchandise highly and, if we except some iron implements, they have more liking for their skins, white as alabaster, which they work upon and ornament in different ways and which are, throughout the Upper Missouri, the foremost fancy goods.

STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS AND DIET IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA

Abstract Over the last three decades, significant quantitative information on prehistoric diets has come to light from a variety of locations in the Caddoan archaeological area, a region encompassing eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, northeast Texas, and northwest Louisiana. Most of this research is based on macro-botanical and faunal remains analysis. As an additional line of evidence for the growing body of botanical and faunal data, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen were analyzed from 82 human and faunal samples from the Arkansas basin and Ozark Highlands in eastern Oklahoma. The research investigates the role of maize in diets through time and across sex and status dimensions. Spanning six phases, within the time range 300 B.C. to A.D. 1650, mean δ13C values increase from –19.2 to –12.7 parts per million ‰. Although present prior to A.D. 1000 substantial increases in the use of maize do not begin until the Harlan phase (A.D. 1050–1250). Even with increased use, maize never dominates the diet to the extent seen in Mississippian period sites farther east.

Traditional narratives of the Arikara Indians

Until the late eighteenth century the Arikaras were one of the largest and most influential Indian groups on the northern plains. For centuries they have lived along the Missouri River, first in present South Dakota, later in what is now North Dakota. Today they share the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota with the Mandans and Hidatsas. Although their postcontact history and aspects of their culture are well documented, Douglas R. Parkss monumental four-volume work Traditional Narratives of the Arikara Indians represents the first comprehensive attempt to describe and record their language and literary traditions. Volumes 1 and 2 present transcriptions of 156 oral narratives in Arikara and include literal interlinear English translations. Volumes 3 and 4 contain free English translations of those narratives, making available for the first time a broad, representative group of Arikara oral traditions that will be invaluable not only to anthropologists and folklorists but to everyone interested in American Indian life and literature. The narratives cover the entire range of traditional stories found in the historical and literary tradition of the Arikara people, who classify their stories into two categories, true stories and tales. Here are myths of ancient times, legends of power bestowed, historical narratives, and narratives of mysterious incidents that affirm the existence today of supernatural power in the world, along with tales of the trickster Coyote and stories of the risque Stuwi and various other animals. In addition, there are accounts of Arikara ritualism: prayers and descriptions of how personal names are bestowed and how the Death Feast originated.

Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Agent-Based Model Simulations for Sustainable Development

In recent years the interdisciplinary field of Computational Social Science has developed theory and methodologies for building spatial Agent-Based Social Simulation (ABSS) models of human societies that are situated in ecosystems with land cover and climate. This article explains the needs and demand for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in these types of agent-based models, with an emphasis on models applied to Eastern Africa and Inner Asia and relevance for understanding and analyzing development issues. The models are implemented with the MASON (Multi-Agent Simulator Of Networks and Neighborhoods) system, an open-source simulation environment in the Java language and suitable for developing ABSS models with GIS for representing spatial features.

Opinion: Building a better past with the help of agent-based modeling

With a few exceptions, the distant past is an anonymous land occupied by people who made things and left behind a cryptic record of broken pieces. Even when the written word comes into play in human history and we can read the hieroglyphs naming an Egyptian pharaoh and describing royal achievements, the majority of human experience remains unknown and unrecoverable. Archaeologists usually excavate to gather physical evidence from ruins, monuments, and artifacts, which become data streams for the interpretation of past societies. Basic excavation is supplemented by a variety of scientific and historical research methods, all of which are far removed from observing the actual experiences of individuals in the past.