Toy Story: Homophily, Transmission and the Use of Simple Simulation Models for Assessing Variability in the Archaeological Record

Authors: Drost, C.J. and Vander Linden, M.

Journal: Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Volume: 25

Issue: 4

Pages: 1087-1108

eISSN: 1573-7764

ISSN: 1072-5369

DOI: 10.1007/s10816-018-9394-y

Abstract:

The interpretation of spatial and temporal patterns in the archaeological record remains a long-standing issue in the discipline. Amongst many methods and interpretations, modelling of ‘biased transmission’ has proved a successful strategy to tackle this problem. Here, we investigate a type of biased transmission, homophily, that is the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others. In contrast to other social sciences, homophily remains underused in archaeology. In order to fill this gap, we develop six distinct variants of a well-established modelling framework borrowed from social science, Axelrod’s Cultural Dissemination Model. These so-called toy models are abstract models used for theory-building and aim at exploring the interplay between homophily and various factors (e.g. addition of spatial features such as mountains and coastlines, diffusion of innovations and population spread). The relevance and implications of each ‘toy model’ for archaeological reasoning are then discussed.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/33615/

Source: Scopus

Toy Story: Homophily, Transmission and the Use of Simple Simulation Models for Assessing Variability in the Archaeological Record

Authors: Drost, C.J. and Vander Linden, M.

Journal: JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY

Volume: 25

Issue: 4

Pages: 1087-1108

eISSN: 1573-7764

ISSN: 1072-5369

DOI: 10.1007/s10816-018-9394-y

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/33615/

Source: Web of Science (Lite)

Toy story: homophily, transmission and the use of simple models in assessing variability in the archaeological record

Authors: Drost, C. and Vander Linden, M.

Journal: Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Volume: 25

Issue: 4

Pages: 1087-1108

Publisher: Springer Nature

ISSN: 1072-5369

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/33615/

Source: Manual

Toy story: homophily, transmission and the use of simple models in assessing variability in the archaeological record

Authors: Drost, C. and Vander Linden, M.

Journal: Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Volume: 25

Issue: 4

Pages: 1087-1108

ISSN: 1072-5369

Abstract:

The interpretation of spatial and temporal patterns in the archaeological record remains a long-standing issue in the discipline. Amongst many methods and interpretations, modelling of ‘biased transmission’ has proved a successful strategy to tackle this problem. Here, we investigate a type of biased transmission, homophily, that is the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others. In contrast to other social sciences, homophily remains underused in archaeology. In order to fill this gap, we develop six distinct variants of a well-established modelling framework borrowed from social science, Axelrod’s Cultural Dissemination Model. These so-called toy models are abstract models used for theory-building and aim at exploring the interplay between homophily and various factors (e.g. addition of spatial features such as mountains and coastlines, diffusion of innovations and population spread). The relevance and implications of each ‘toy model’ for archaeological reasoning are then discussed.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/33615/

Source: BURO EPrints