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4. Bringing to Life an Ancient Urban Center at Monte Albán, Mexico: Exploiting the Synergy Between the Macro, Meso, and Micro Level in a Complex System

by Thaer W. Jayyousi, Robert G. Reynolds (Wayne State University)

Abstract: In this paper, agent-based models of emergent ancient urban centers are constructed through the use of techniques from computational intelligence, agent-based modeling, complex systems, data-mining, and existing archaeological data from the prehistoric urban center, Monte Albán. The models are used to determine the extent to which the structure of ancient cities relates to the structural model of modern cities. Although the morphology of the emergent city appears initially to be that of a concentric zone, the use of the agent based model allows us to interpret the pattern as a sector based model instead. Thus, suggesting that agent-based modeling of social relations can provide contextual information that is useful in the interpretation of archaeological data.

Index Terms: Complex Systems, Cultural Algorithms, City Morphologies, Agent-Based Models

Pages: 21-29

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