Journal on Policy and Complex Systems - Fall 2015 , Volume 2 , Number 2
Generating Anthropological and Archeological Hypotheses in Okinawa through Agent-Based Simulation
Fumihiro Sakahira and Takao Terano
Fumihiro Sakahira : Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering , Tokyo Institute of Technology , Yokohama , Japan ; Kozo Keikaku Engineering Inc ., Tokyo , Japan .
f-sakahira @ hotmail . co . jp
Takao Terano : Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering , Tokyo Institute of Technology , Yokohama , Japan .
terano @ dis . titech . ac . jp
Abstract This paper proposes an agent-based simulation ( ABS ) technique applied to generating anthropological and archeological hypotheses . The basic idea is to develop a method to search for valid parameter sets of ABSs through intensive simulation experiments . In this case study , we focus upon the diffusion process of the agriculture and pottery in the Gusuku period ( eleventh – fourteenth centuries ) in Okinawa , Japan . Following our intensive simulation results , we propose plausible but falsifiable hypotheses : ( 1 ) agriculture spread rapidly among native people and was , in the early stages , performed mainly by native people ; and ( 2 ) the immigrant-style pottery was mostly used by immigrants and was not widely diffused among native people . These hypotheses should be verified by the new discovery of anthropological and archeological evidence . Therefore , these ABSs will contribute to the literature in the fields of anthropology and archeology in Japan .
Keywords : anthropology , archeology , hypothesis generation
67 doi : 10.18278 / jpcs . 2.2.5