24/12/2023
Call for Papers for the workshop: “Advances in modelling past human ecosystems” that will take place in Cologne between 22nd and 24th of May 2024.
Workshop Description
In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the number of anthropological and archaeological studies that look into the human-environment interactions and resource management practices of Indigenous and local populations (Sherjon et. al. 2015; Whitaker et al. 2023; Pisor and Jones 2021; Welch-Devine et al. 2020). Such works, which often draw from the fields of historical ecology, pyrogeography, multi-species studies and climate ethnography, have provided a wealth of new data on human experiences, perceptions and adaptations to ecological change and novel insights into human-animal and human-plant interactions at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. At the same time, there has been an increase in interdisciplinary eco-archaeological approaches that make best use of archaeological science methods to provide evidence of long- and short-term change in human ecosystems. These developments offer new opportunities for enriched approaches to computational modelling that better address important scientific challenges in the study of past human eco-dynamics (Kintigh et. al. 2014).
This workshop invites papers on archaeological computational models that seek to take fuller into account advancements shaping the current discourse in socio-ecological research. We are particularly interested in approaches to simulation modelling that gain insights from Indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge. We also encourage contributions that explore the socio-ecological dynamics of resource use, depletion and renewal and in interdisciplinary eco-archaeological approaches that bring together ethnoarchaeology, archaeological science methods, and computational modelling. More broadly, we invite works on computational modelling (e.g., simulations, GIS-based models, equation-based models, agent-based models, etc.) which look into:
- the response of hunter-gatherer, agropastoralist and urban populations to ecological change
- anthropogenic impacts on environmental change in the long- and short-term, at smaller and larger spatial scales
- ecological sustainability and resilience in the past and present
- theoretical and conceptual frameworks for socio-ecological simulations of past human behaviour that go beyond traditional models (e.g., optimal foraging theory)
- technological advances in computational modelling of socio-ecological systems
Organizers: Eleftheria Paliou (Institute of Archaeology), Andreas Angourakis (University of Cologne, University of Bochum) Location: University of Cologne, Institute of Archaeology, Cologne Digital Archaeology Laboratory (CoDArchLab)
