Agent-based model experiments cast doubt on Dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaboration
Ancient monuments are puzzling from an evolutionary perspective. It is obvious that their construction would have been costly in terms of energy, but it is not clear how they would have enhanced reproductive success. In the late 1980s, Robert Dunnell proposed a solution to this conundrum. He argued...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20548923.2019.1647648 |
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doaj-2d058d5208af4c4fb31cf8effea5fe602020-11-25T02:33:49ZengTaylor & Francis GroupScience and Technology of Archaeological Research2054-89232019-01-015111710.1080/20548923.2019.16476481647648Agent-based model experiments cast doubt on Dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaborationW. Christopher Carleton0Brea McCauley1André Costopoulos2Mark Collard3Simon Fraser UniversitySimon Fraser UniversityUniversity of AlbertaSimon Fraser UniversityAncient monuments are puzzling from an evolutionary perspective. It is obvious that their construction would have been costly in terms of energy, but it is not clear how they would have enhanced reproductive success. In the late 1980s, Robert Dunnell proposed a solution to this conundrum. He argued that wasting energy on monuments and other forms of what he called “cultural elaboration” was adaptive in highly variable environments. Here, we report a study in which we used an agent-based model to test Dunnell’s hypothesis. We found that the propensity to waste was subject to strong negative selection regardless of the level of environmental variability. At the start of the simulation runs, agents wasted ca. 50% of the time but selection rapidly drove that rate down, ultimately settling at ca. 5–7%. This casts doubt on the ability of Dunnell’s hypothesis to explain instances of cultural elaboration in the archaeological record.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20548923.2019.1647648monumentscultural elaborationwaste hypothesisenvironmental variabilityagent-based modellingevolutionary archaeology |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
W. Christopher Carleton Brea McCauley André Costopoulos Mark Collard |
spellingShingle |
W. Christopher Carleton Brea McCauley André Costopoulos Mark Collard Agent-based model experiments cast doubt on Dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaboration Science and Technology of Archaeological Research monuments cultural elaboration waste hypothesis environmental variability agent-based modelling evolutionary archaeology |
author_facet |
W. Christopher Carleton Brea McCauley André Costopoulos Mark Collard |
author_sort |
W. Christopher Carleton |
title |
Agent-based model experiments cast doubt on Dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaboration |
title_short |
Agent-based model experiments cast doubt on Dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaboration |
title_full |
Agent-based model experiments cast doubt on Dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaboration |
title_fullStr |
Agent-based model experiments cast doubt on Dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaboration |
title_full_unstemmed |
Agent-based model experiments cast doubt on Dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaboration |
title_sort |
agent-based model experiments cast doubt on dunnell’s adaptive waste explanation for cultural elaboration |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
series |
Science and Technology of Archaeological Research |
issn |
2054-8923 |
publishDate |
2019-01-01 |
description |
Ancient monuments are puzzling from an evolutionary perspective. It is obvious that their construction would have been costly in terms of energy, but it is not clear how they would have enhanced reproductive success. In the late 1980s, Robert Dunnell proposed a solution to this conundrum. He argued that wasting energy on monuments and other forms of what he called “cultural elaboration” was adaptive in highly variable environments. Here, we report a study in which we used an agent-based model to test Dunnell’s hypothesis. We found that the propensity to waste was subject to strong negative selection regardless of the level of environmental variability. At the start of the simulation runs, agents wasted ca. 50% of the time but selection rapidly drove that rate down, ultimately settling at ca. 5–7%. This casts doubt on the ability of Dunnell’s hypothesis to explain instances of cultural elaboration in the archaeological record. |
topic |
monuments cultural elaboration waste hypothesis environmental variability agent-based modelling evolutionary archaeology |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20548923.2019.1647648 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT wchristophercarleton agentbasedmodelexperimentscastdoubtondunnellsadaptivewasteexplanationforculturalelaboration AT breamccauley agentbasedmodelexperimentscastdoubtondunnellsadaptivewasteexplanationforculturalelaboration AT andrecostopoulos agentbasedmodelexperimentscastdoubtondunnellsadaptivewasteexplanationforculturalelaboration AT markcollard agentbasedmodelexperimentscastdoubtondunnellsadaptivewasteexplanationforculturalelaboration |
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