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SUMMARY:SagaScape: Simulating human impact and community formation in sout
 hwest Anatolia during the first millennium BCE -  Dr. Dries Daems\, Middle
  East Technical University 
DTSTART:20221128T160000Z
DTEND:20221128T173000Z
UID:TALK185276@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Simon Carrignon
DESCRIPTION:People have always needed to interact with their environment\,
  collecting foodstuffs\, hunting animals\, working the land\, and exploiti
 ng resources. All human societies need energy and resources in order to su
 stain themselves. As a result\, people also have a profound impact on thei
 r environment when exploiting these resources. All of the goals and practi
 ces of a society to track and collect resources can be subsumed under the 
 moniker of resource exploitation strategies. In order for societies to be 
 resilient over longer periods of time\, these strategies need to be sustai
 nable. That is\, a balanced interaction between society and nature is need
 ed in which the social consumption of resources does not exceed their avai
 lability and/or regeneration rate.\n\nIn this talk\, I will present an age
 nt-based model to explore human impact on the environment by simulating su
 bsistence and resource exploitation strategies in southwest Anatolia from 
 Iron Age to Hellenistic times (1000-100 BCE). With our model we aim to tes
 t the hypothesis that hilltop sites in the inland of southwest Anatolia ca
 n be considered major drivers of environmental change during the Iron Age 
 to Hellenistic period. Preliminary results indicate that our simulations a
 re consistent with empirical observations of anthropogenic zones of human 
 impact embedded in a natural forest matrix. While general patterns of sust
 ainability can be observed for most communities under most model settings\
 , a broader parameter swoop suggests that in times of high stress or resou
 rce demand\, trade-offs emerge between the various resource exploitation s
 trategies. This results in the disruption of resource stocks in certain co
 mmunities\, suggesting several scenarios of scarcity\, struggle and even s
 ite abandonment. Our model therefore provides a suitable baseline for the 
 assessment of socio-ecological sustainability in subsistence and resource 
 exploitation of local communities. We will use this case study to offer a 
 broader reflection on the usage of computational modelling as a tool in ar
 chaeology to reconstruct dynamic human-environment interactions\n\n\n\nReg
 istration Link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUtceugrjIrGNX
 rttydB_XbuFHMtgssRo33
LOCATION:McDonald Institute Seminar Room\, Department of Archaeology\, Dow
 ning Site
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