via Tom Brughmans, The Networks' Network:

 

[apologies for cross-posting]

The Computer Applications and Quantitative Techniques in Archaeology (CAA) conference will once again have a session focusing on the application of agent-, network- and model-based techniques. We welcome abstracts from those studying the human past using tools from network science, agent-based modelling and other complexity science approaches.
CFP deadline: 22 OctoberSubmission URL: http://2018.caaconference.org/2017/09/29/call-papers-posters-open/When? 19-23 March 2018

Session abstract:

Agents, networks and models: formal approaches to systems, relationships and change in archaeology

Iza RomanowskaBarcelona Supercomputing Center, SpainTom BrughmansUniversity of Oxford, United KingdomBenjamin DaviesUniversity of Auckland, New Zealand
Even if much ink has already been spilled on the need to use formal, computational methods to represent theories, compare alternative hypotheses and develop more complex narratives, the idea is still far from being firmly established in archaeology.
Complexity Science, the study of systems consisting of a collection of interconnected relationships and parts, provides a useful framework for formalising social and socio-natural models and it is often under this umbrella term that formal models are presented in archaeology. It has a particular appeal for researchers concerned with humans, as it stresses the importance of individual actions and interactions, as well as relations between individuals and wider system elements. Archaeology is a discipline that studies long-term, large-scale shifts in social change, human evolution, and relationships with the environment; how these phenomena emerge through the actions and interactions of individuals are questions that lie at the heart of our interests. Complexity Science offers an arsenal of methods that were developed specifically to tackle these kind of mulitscalar, multifaceted research questions.
This session will provide a forum for archaeological case studies developed using Complexity Science toolkits as well as for more methodological papers. We invite submissions of models at any stage of development from the first formalisation of the conceptual model to presenting final results.
Possible topics include but are not limited to applications or discussions of the following approaches:

• Complexity science,

• Network science,

• Agent-based and equation-based modelling,

• System dynamics,

• Long-term change in social systems,

• Social simulation in geographical space,

• Complex urban systems, space syntax, gravity models.