Sean M. Bergin

Land use, water and Mediterranean landscapes: modelling long-term dynamics of complex socio-ecological systems

The evolution of Mediterranean landscapes during the Holocene has been increasingly governed by the complex interactions of water and human land use. Different land-use practices change the amount of water flowing across the surface and infiltrating the soil, and change water’s ability to move surface sediments. Conversely, water amplifies the impacts of human land use and extends the ecological footprint of human activities far beyond the borders of towns and fields. Advances in computational modelling offer new tools to study the complex feedbacks between land use, land cover, topography and surface water. The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics project (MedLand) is building a modelling laboratory where experiments can be carried out on the long-term impacts of agropastoral land use, and whose results can be tested against the archaeological record. These computational experiments are providing new insights into the socio-ecological consequences of human decisions at varying temporal and spatial scales.

A Computational Model Library for publishing model documentation and code

We present a repository for disseminating the computational models associated with publications in the social and life sciences. The number of research projects using computational models has been steadily increasing but the resulting publications often lack model code and documentation which hinders replication, verification of results and accumulation of knowledge. We have developed an open repository, the CoMSES Net Computational Model Library, to address this problem. Submissions to the library can be original models accompanying publications or replications of previous studies. Researchers can request that their models undergo a certification process that verifies that the model code successfully compiles and runs and that it follows documentation best practices. Models that pass the certification process are assigned persistent URLs and identifiers. We present the basic components of our repository, discuss our initial experiences with the library, and elaborate on future steps in the development of this cyberinfrastructure.

Reconstructing Early Neolithic Social and Economic Organization through Spatial Analysis at Ayn Abu Nukhayla, Southern Jordan

This study involves the high-resolution spatial analysis of a 9,500-year-old Early Neolithic site in an effort to reconstruct the social and economic organization of the settlement at household and community scales. We introduce an approach to distinguishing stratified occupational surfaces (floors) from intervening deposits (fills), to tracing the different formation processes associated with floors and fills, and to critically examining various factors (curation behaviors, palimpsests, and the Clarke Effect) that may have shaped house floor assemblages. The spatial analyses of behavioral residuals, features, and structures are then presented at intramural and intrasite scales, and the results are discussed as they relate to certain aspects of the social and economic organization of the community. These include family structure, control of resources, social differentiation, ritual participation, craft specialization, and gender-linked activities.

Alternative Stories of Agricultural Origins: The Neolithic Spread in the Iberian Peninsula

The spread of agriculture from the Near East to Europe has long been a subject of intense archaeological study and debate in light of the social and economic changes that occurred and were set in motion as a result of this transition. Despite the attention paid to this important process, a consensus is far from being reached. Perhaps for these reasons, new methods and theoretical approaches have often been applied to the questions surrounding the spread of agriculture first. Recently, computational modeling has emerged as a promising technique for the study of the origins of agriculture. Our approach employs an agent-based computational model of agricultural spread for the Iberian Peninsula and utilizes a substantial radiocarbon database. This method allows for us to test multiple hypotheses about the manner in which agriculture spread, where it may have spread from and to focus on the critical evaluation of the available chronological record and its effects upon our results.