Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T13:15:46.065Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Operations Research and Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Peter Bleed
Peter Bleed*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0368
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Operations research is the systematic study of resource utilization through the manipulation of conceptual models. Used most often by engineers and managers, these models also have potential application in archaeology. Event tree analysis, which models multipart systems with a number of potential consequences resulting from a series of events, makes it possible to analyze artifact-production processes or the operation of complex economic activities such as hunting. Fault tree analysis models the interactions of factors that can cause a technological system to fail. It offers a framework for the interpretation of archaeological remains such as flintlock firearm parts at Indian and Euroamerican sites of the Great Plains.

Résumé

Résumé

Investigación de operaciones es el estudio sistemático de la utilización de recursos por medio de la manipulación de modelos conceptuales. Utilizados más frequentemente por ingenieros y administradores, estos modelos también tienen aplicación potencial en arqueología. El “event tree analysis” que modela sistemas de partes múltiples con un número de potenciales consecuencias que resultan de una serie de eventos, hace posible el análisis de los procesos de la producción de artefactos o la operación de actividades económicas complejas como la caza. El “fault tree analysis” modela la interacción de factores que pueden causar lafalla de un sistema tecnológico. Este ofrece un marco para la interpretación de restos arqueológicos tales como las partes de armas de chispa en sitios indígenas y euroamericanos de los Grandes Llanos.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , January 1991 , pp. 19 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Aldenderfer, M. S. 1981 Creating Assemblages by Computer Simulation : The Development and Uses of ABSIM. In Simulations in Archaeology, edited by Sabloff, J. pp. 67–117. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Ang, A., and Tang, W. 1984 Decision, Risk, and Reliability. Probability Concepts in Engineering Planning and Design, vol. II. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Bamforth, D. 1986 Technological Efficiency and Tool Curation. American Antiquity 51 : 38–50.Google Scholar
Belovsky, G. 1987 Hunter Gatherer Foraging : A Linear Programming Approach. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 43 : 330–361.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1977 Forty-Seven Trips : A Case Study in the Character of Archaeological Formation Processes. In Stone Tools as Cultural Markers : Change, Evolution, and Complexity, edited by Wright, J. V. S., pp. 24–36. Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1978a Dimensional Analysis of Behavior and Site Structure : Learning from an Eskimo Hunting Stand. American Antiquity 43 : 330–361.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1978b Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1979 Organization and Formation Processes : Looking at Curated Technologies. Journal of Anthropological Research 35 : 255–73.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1980 Willow Smoke and Dog's Tails : Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation. American Antiquity 45 : 4–20.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1981 Behavioral Archaeology and the “Pompeii Premise.” Journal of Anthropological Research 37 : 195–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bleed, P. 1986 The Optimal Design of Hunting Weapons : Maintainability or Reliability. American Antiquity 51 : 737–747.Google Scholar
Bleed, P., and Bleed, A. 1987 Energetic Efficiency and Hand Tool Design : A Performance Comparison of Push and Pull Stroke Saws. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6 : 189–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bleed, P., and Watson, D. 1990 Frontier Flintlocks : A Fault Tree Analysis of Firearm Use at Contact Period Sites of the Great Plains. Paper presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Las Vegas.Google Scholar
Bradley, B. 1982 Flake Stone Technology and Typology. In The Agate Basin Site : A Record ofthePaleoindian Occupation of the Northwest High Plains, edited by Frison, G. and Stanford, D., pp. 181–208. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Brown, J. 1987 Quantitative Burial Analyses as Interassemblage Comparison. In Quantitative Research in Archaeology, edited by Aldenderfer, M. S., pp. 294–308. Sage, Newbury Park, California.Google Scholar
Budnick, F. S., McLeavy, D., and Mojena, R. 1988 Principles of Operations Research for Management. 2nd ed. Irwin, Homewood, Illinois.Google Scholar
Cashdan, E. (editor) 1990 Risk and Uncertainty in Tribal and Peasant Economies. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Cooke, K. 1979 Mathematical Approaches to Culture Change. In Transformations : Mathematical Approaches to Culture Change, edited by Renfrew, C. and Cooke, K., pp. 45–82. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Dickson, D. B. 1980 Ancient Agriculture and Population at Tikal, Guatemala : An Application of Linear Programming to the Simulation of an Archaeological Problem. American Antiquity 45 : 697–712.Google Scholar
Doran, J. 1986 Formal Methods and Archaeological Theory : A Perspective. World Archaeology 18 : 21–37.Google Scholar
Doran, J. 1987 Anthropological Archaeology, Computational Modeling and Expert Systems. In Quantitative Research in Archaeology, edited by Aldenderfer, M. S., pp. 73–88. Sage, Newbury Park, California.Google Scholar
Dunnell, R. C. 1980 Evolutionary Theory and Archaeology. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 3, edited by Schiffer, M. B., pp. 35–99. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Flenniken, J. 1978 Reevaluation of the Lindenmeier Folsom : A Replication Experiment in Lithic Technology. American Antiquity 43 : 473–980.Google Scholar
Flenniken, J., and Raymond, A. W. 1986 Morphological Projectile Point Typology : Replication Experimentation and Technological Analysis. American Antiquity 51 : 603–614.Google Scholar
Flowers, N. 1983 Seasonal Factors in Subsistence Nutrition and Child Growth in a Central Brazilian Indian Community. . In Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians, edited by Hames, R. and Vickers, W., pp. 357–390. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, G., and Bradley, B. 1980 Folsom Tools and Technology at the Hanson Site, Wyoming. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Gillispie, C. G. (editor) 1959 A Diderot Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry. Dover, New York.Google Scholar
Gubser, N. T. 1965 The Nunamiut Eskimos, Hunters of Caribou. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Halstead, P., and Shea, J. O' (editors) 1989 Bad Year Economics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hayden, B., and Cannon, A. 1983 Where the Garbage Goes : Refuse Disposal in the Maya Highlands. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2 : 117–163.Google Scholar
Henley, E. T., and Kumamoto, H. 1981 Reliability Engineering and Risk Assessment. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Hill, K., and Hawkes, K. 1983 Neotropical Hunting among the Ache of Eastern Paraguay. In Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians, edited by Hames, R. and Vickers, W., pp. 139–187. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hillier, F. S., and Lieberman, G. J. 1980 Introduction to Operations Research. 3rd ed. Holden-Day, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Jochim, M. 1983 Optimization Models in Context. In Archaeological Hammers and Theories, edited by Moore, J. and Keene, A., pp. 157–172. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Jochim, M. 1976 Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence and Settlement : Predictive Model. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Keene, A. 1979 Economic Optimization Models and the Study of Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence Settlement Systems. In Transformation : Mathematical Approaches to Culture Change, edited by Renfrew, C. and Cooke, K., pp. 369–404. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Keene, A. 1981 Prehistoric Foraging in a Temperate Forest : A Linear Programming Model. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Keene, A. 1983 Biology, Behavior, and Borrowing : A Critical Examination of Optimal Foraging Theory in Archaeology. In Archaeological Hammers and Theories, edited by Moore, J. and Keene, A., pp. 155–156. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Keene, A. 1985 Constraints on Linear Programming Applications in Archaeology. In For Concordance in Archaeology, edited by Carr, C., pp. 239–272. Westport, Kansas City.Google Scholar
Kelly, R. 1983 Hunter-Gatherer Mobility Strategies. Journal of Anthropological Research 39 : 277–306.Google Scholar
Kirch, P. V. 1980 The Archaeological Study of Adaptation : Theoretical and Methodological Issues. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 3, edited by Schiffer, M. B., pp. 101–156. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lee, R. 1979 The IKung San. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Leonard, R. 1989 Resource Specialization, Population, Growth, and Agricultural Production in the American Southwest. American Antiquity 54 : 491–503.Google Scholar
Leonard, R., and Jones, G. T. 1987 Elements of An Inclusive Evolutionary Model for Archaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6 : 199–219.Google Scholar
Limp, F., and Carr, C. 1985 The Analysis of Decision Making : Alternative Applications in Archaeology. In For Concordance in Archaeological Analyses, edited by Carr, C., pp. 128–172. Westport, Kansas City.Google Scholar
Marks, S. A. 1976 Large Mammals and a Brave People, University of Washington Press, Seattle.Google Scholar
Maynard Smith, J. 1978 Optimization Theory in Evolution. Annual Reviews in Ecology and Systematics 9 : 31–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norman, D. 1988 The Psychology of Everyday Things. Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Reidhead, V. A. 1979 Linear Programming Models in Archaeology. Annual Reviews of Anthropology 8 : 543–578.Google Scholar
Russell, C. P. 1962 Guns on the Early Frontiers. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Schalk, R. F. 1977 The Structure of Anadromous Fish Resource. In For Theory Building in Archaeology, edited by Binford, L. pp. 207–249. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Schiffer, M. B. 1984 Is There a “Pompeii Premise” in Archaeology? Journal of Anthropological Research 41 : 18–41.Google Scholar
Secoy, F. R. 1953 Changing Military Patterns on the Great Plains. Augustin, Locust Valley, New York.Google Scholar
Spaulding, A. 1953 Statistical Techniques for the Discovery of Artifact Types. American Antiquity 38 : 305–313.Google Scholar
Spencer, R. F. 1959 North Alaskan Eskimo. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 171. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Speth, J. D. 1983 Bison Kills and Bone Counts : Decision Making by Ancient Hunters. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Spiess, A. E. 1979 Reindeer and Caribou Hunters : An Archaeological Study. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Spratt, D. A. 1982 The Analysis of Innovation Processes. Journal of Archaeological Science. 9 : 79–94.Google Scholar
Taha, H. A. 1982 Operations Research. 3rd ed. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Torrence, R. 1983 Time Budgeting and Hunter-Gatherer Technology. In Hunter-Gatherer Economy in Prehistory, edited by Bailey, G., pp. 11–22. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Torrence, R. 1989a Tools as Optimal Solutions. In Time, Energy and Stone Tools, edited by Torrence, R., pp. 1–6. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Torrence, R. 1989b Re-tooling : Towards a Behavioral Theory of Stone Tools. In Time, Energy and Stone Tools, edited by Torrence, R., pp. 57–66. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Williams, N. 1981 Resource Managers : North American and Australian Hunter-Gatherers. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Winfrey, J. 1990 An Event Tree Analysis of Folsom Point Failure. Plains Anthropologist 35 : 263–272.Google Scholar
Yost, J., and Kelley, P. M. 1983 Shotguns, Blowguns, and Spears : The Analysis of Technological Efficiency. In Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians, edited by Hames, R. and Vickers, W., pp. 189–222. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar