A unified model for the governing dynamics of agricultural frontier zones
Volume 45 (2019): Lietuvos archeologija, pp. 145–167
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
15 June 2019
15 June 2019
Accepted
2 August 2019
2 August 2019
Pub. online
22 November 2019
22 November 2019
Abstract
We present a unified model for the movement of agricultural frontiers based on the construction of the parallax shift and its relation to normalizable science. The model is based on data from the Baltic Basin, where for thousands of years, complex and semi-complex hunter/gatherer/fishers and agriculturalists remained in an equilibrium state. When agriculturalization occurred, it occurred in a punctuated
equilibrium manner, which defies current models of agricultural frontier movement, and by extension, current understandings of the underlying dynamics of social change. This new model is a modification of Structuration (Giddens 1984), with the emerging field of selforganized criticality within Physics (Bak et. al 1988; Brunk 2002b). These modifications require two additional governing dynamics not included in Giddens’s original formulation. When joined to an agricultural frontiers model with selective information permeability, these governing dynamics allow for societies to undergo punctuated equilibrium change under stress affect conditions. This results in critical behavior without the need for chaotic state change (Bak et. al 1988). This results in the creation of new material culture assemblages, reflecting new societal structures which are in equilibrium with the social and environmental landscape. The model is scale independent in both space and time, presenting some interesting conclusions.