| Popis: |
Archaeological research in southern Africa has explained patterns of deposition and distribution at Middle Stone Age sites, but the role of social and ecological movement decisions of foragers in producing these patterns remains unclear. This dissertation addresses two questions that benefit from consideration of the complex dynamic interactions between foragers and their environment: (1) How do marine resources shape mobility patterns, and how are those patterns reflected in archaeological material? (2) Do observed archaeological patterns of artifact deposition frequency and site distribution match simulated patterns based on human movement decisions? To address these questions, I use an agent-based modeling approach to test the impact of social and ecological behavioral models from Human Behavioral Ecology on the deposition and distribution of archaeological material. The Southern African Mobility Model (SAMM), the agent-based model developed for this dissertation, provides experimental simulation data to help explain the role of human mobility in producing archaeological patterns of shellfish exploitation and overall site distribution during the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa. SAMM experiments successfully reproduced the distribution of sites in the southern African archaeological record and indicate that daily forager social and ecological decisions may be responsible for producing the distribution of sites observed in the southern African Middle Stone Age. Model outcomes suggest that human foragers alter movement decisions in response to changing environmental conditions. These results indicate that human movement decisions are an important factor for understanding archaeological patterns. |
