Projects

The projects I’ve worked on. All archaeological, one way or another.

Agent-based modelling

Modelling the evolution of socio-political complexity

The central plaza at Monte Albán, Mexico, interspersed with a randomly-coloured model environment.

Human societies are complex and complicated entities which have a tendency to change over time. For my PhD research, I looked at why some human societies started to become larger than others and leave monumental traces behind in the archaeological record. More specifically, why this particular change happened when and where it did in the world. Many different ideas have been batted back and forth to try to explain this pattern. Rather than wading even deeper into the debate with archaeological data alone, I built agent-based models to test one particular idea. That idea proposes that complex societies are more likely to arise in conditions that limit population movement (whether through environmental or social causes). I dissected this idea down to the core components and built an abstract agent-based model to test the internal logic. I found that yes, limiting the spread of populations could increase the chance of social complexity forming, but that conditions could also be too intense and result in very little change over time. To fully test the idea, I therefore fitted the model to a known scenario of social complexity formation in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mexico. The model showed that the environmental conditions of the valley could have increased the chance of social complexity forming there, but only with the assumption that warfare was relatively frequent. This has brought up interesting avenues for further investigation of the archaeological record to explain the formation of social complexity in the human past.

Research:

This PhD thesis is available from Exeter’s open research depository, here: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/37500

The model code used to test the ideas of the thesis can be seen here (please cite me if you use any of it): https://github.com/ajw246/Thesis_code

ConferenceS & presentations:

  • Invited speaker at The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans (ROCEEH) “Human Origins – Digital Future” Conference
  • Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology conference (CAA), University of Oxford (paper accepted but conference cancelled)
  • Cambridge Computational and Digital Archaeology Laboratory (CDAL) seminar series (oral presentation): A formal test of Carneiro’s Theory of the Origin of the State using agent-based models (abstract)
  • AEA Grand Challenges in Environmental Archaeology, University of Edinburgh (oral presentation)
  • Socio-environmental Dynamics over the last 12,000 years, University of Kiel (oral presentation)
  • Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology conference (CAA), University of Oslo (oral presentation)
  • Human Behaviour and Evolution Society conference (HBES) (poster presentation)
  • Post-graduate research conference, University of Exeter (oral presentation)
  • Exeter Behavioural and Sensory Ecology Conference, University of Exeter (oral presentation)
  • NERC Wessex Congress, University of Oxford (oral presentation)
  • Human Behavioural and Cultural Evolution Group (HuBCEG) talk, University of Exeter (oral presentation)
  • Invited speaker at the Archaeobotany Discussion Group, University of Oxford (oral presentation)

Media & outreach

  • Radio interview for SourceFM (from about 44 mins in)

Global data

Sometimes it is clearer to see a picture when you step back. This was the idea behind the Seshat Historical Database, on which I worked as a Research Assistant. I gathered archaeological and historical data from several ares of the world into the database to be used for global-scale analyses.

research:

Archaeobotany

Plant remains can often survive surprisingly well in the archaeological record. If waterlogged, desiccated, or charred, large pieces of plant (macro-botanical remains) can survive indefinitely. But even if the plant itself breaks down, it may leave microscopic traces in the form of phytoliths or pollen.

Macrobotany

Charred barley grains, from Çatalhöyük, Turkey

I have processed and analysed samples from the Neolithic sites at Bestansur in Iraq (with the University of Reading) and Çatalhöyük in Turkey (with the University of Oxford).

Microbotany

Phytolith remains, from Burj, northwest India

With more intensive sediment cleaning methods, I have also processed and analysed samples from the Viking site at Avaldsnes and the Early Historic site at Burj, northwest India (both with the University of Cambridge).

Research:

Presentations:

  • ‘Plants in Pits? An investigation into the phytolith remains from the village of Burj, Northwest India, looking at how past urbanisation may have affected the plant assemblage ‘ at the Asian Archaeology Group (AsAG), University of Cambridge

Excavation

Archaeological data very often starts out covered in mud. I have worked on several excavation sites around the world, each with many different colours and shades of mud to uncover. These include:

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