Project
EF5-1
Spreading of copper technology in ancient times
Project Heads
Natasa Djurdjevac Conrad, Christof Schütte, Wolfram Schier
Project Members
Johannes Zonker (FU)
Project Duration
01.01.2019 – 31.12.2021
Located at
FU Berlin
Description
Invention of copper smelting technology had a great influence on the socio-technological development of past societies. However, dynamical mechanisms that governed the spreading of this process are until now not well understood. The goal of this project is to model and describe the process of spreading and evolution of the copper production technology in ancient Europe between different socio-cultural groups and across multiple spatio-temporal scales.
Within this project, we are studying models on different scales, e.g. stochastic agent-based models on a micro-scale, metapopulation models on a meso-scale and network-based models on a macro-scale. The problem of choosing the optimal model is always connected to balancing between the descriptive power of the model and its computational cost. We are working on derivation of mathematical relations between these models e.g. by using model reduction techniques, which could help in estimating an approximation error made by the choice of the model.
This is an interdisciplinary project with our colleagues from the Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology at Free University Berlin.
Project Webpages
Selected Publications
- Fabian Becker, Natasa Djurdjevac Conrad, Raphael A. Eser, Luzie Helfmann, Brigitta Schütt, Christof Schütte and Johannes Zonker. The Furnace and the Goat—A spatio-temporal model of the fuelwood requirement for iron metallurgy on Elba Island, 4th century BCE to 2nd century CE. Under revision.
- Johannes Zonker, Stefanie Winkelmann, Christof Schütte and Natasa Djurdjevac Conrad. On multiscale models for spreading processes. In preparation.
Selected Pictures
Data in this plot is provided by W.Schier and reference: E. Rosenstock, S. Scharl and W. Schier. Ex oriente lux? – Ein Diskussionsbeitrag zur Stellung der frühen Kupfermetallurgie Südosteuropas. Oriental European Archaeology, vol. 3 (Rahden/Westf.: Verlag Marie Leidorf 2016) 59- 122.
Network model with geo-cultural partititon.Please insert any kind of pictures (photos, diagramms, simulations, graphics) related to the project in the above right field (Image with Text), by choosing the green plus image on top of the text editor. (You will be directed to the media library where you can add new files.)
(We need pictures for a lot of purposes in different contexts, like posters, scientific reports, flyers, website,…
Please upload pictures that might be just nice to look at, illustrate, explain or summarize your work.)
As Title in the above form please add a copyright.
And please give a short description of the picture and the context in the above textbox.
Don’t forget to press the “Save changes” button at the bottom of the box.
If you want to add more pictures, please use the “clone”-button at the right top of the above grey box.