Below is given a list of abstracts to recent posters, talks and publications, together with links to the relevant conferences and web sites where possible.

Grove, M.J. 2008a. Estimating hunter-gatherer group size via spatio-allometric analysis, Paleoanthropology Society Annual Meeting, Vancouver, B.C., 25th March.

It has long been recognised that the reconstruction of hominin population sizes is vital to the analysis of paleolithic society, yet there is no consistently applicable method with which to pursue such reconstruction. Existing methods have been applied piecemeal, and rarely have been related back to the archaeological record from which they derive. The replication of results has proved difficult, and the comparison of estimates produced via different techniques has been impossible. At the heart of the problem is the lack of an empirical basis relating the material residues of modern hunter-gatherer land use to those encountered in the archaeological record in a quantitative and explicitly spatial manner. Grove (2007a, 2007b) has recently proposed a method with which to estimate group size, range area, and land use patterns based on spatial distributions of material culture and allometric constants relating primate body mass to population density. The current research tests that method, designed for use with archaeological data, by employing as input a detailed dataset on Dobe !Kung site distribution (Yellen 1977) and demography (Howell 1979). This dataset, for which the variables to be estimated are known, allows for a comprehensive evaluation of the model. The known values of 690 individuals over a seven year period (Howell 1979:45) inhabiting an area of some 320km2 (Yellen 1977: 54) fall well within the 95% confidence limits of the model predictions, at 738±102 individuals and 313.07±9.89km2 respectively. The current research employs these predictions in the production of two land use maps via probability density functions based on (a) site distribution, and (b) site distribution weighted by data on duration of occupation and number of persons inhabiting specific sites. Again, results closely mirror those suggested by the data, while discrepancies between the two maps highlight areas of reconstruction for which archaeological data remain insufficient.

Acknowledgements: This research is supported by the British Academy Centenary Research Project. The author thanks Clive Gamble for his time, comments, and suggestions.

References Cited:

Grove, M. J. 2007. Lower Palaeolithic land use: allometric and spatial analyses of population size and range area at Koobi Fora, Kenya. American Journal of Physical Anthropology S44: 120.

Grove, M.J. 2008. The Evolution of Hominin Group Size and Land Use: an Archaeological Perspective. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London.

Howell, N. 1979. Demography of the Dobe !Kung. Academic Press, London.

Yellen, J. E. 1977. Archaeological Approaches to the Present: Models for Reconstructing the Past. Academic Press, New York.

A PDF of the poster is available here: Paleo Poster 2008.pdf

Paleoanthropology Society Abstracts 2008 can be found at: http://www.paleoanthro.org/journal/content/PAS2008A.pdf

Grove, M.J. 2008b. Oldowan mobility and site formation: modeling the effects of prior deposition, American Association of Physical Anthropologists Annual Meeting, Columbus, Ohio, 10th April.

Most qualitative models of Oldowan land use postulate the existence of recurrently visited points in the landscape. Many of these are naturally occurring and immovable locations such as lithic and water sources, but others are created by the previous foraging activities of the hominins themselves. The prior deposition of transported lithics in particular has been argued to influence subsequent movements. The current paper employs the analogy of point resources as ‘magnets’ to develop an electrodynamic model of the foraging process based on Coulomb’s law for the forces generated by stationary charges. Mobility rates are calibrated using ethnographic data and allometric relationships between body weight, home range size, population density and day range. Foragers move on a dynamic attraction surface formed initially by the superposition of the attractive forces exerted by various point resources; as the simulation progresses however, cultural deposition alters the surface, with foragers attracted to the presence of potentially re-useable material.

This simple attraction mechanism combined with a Poisson regulated probability of cultural deposition generates a surprisingly complex dynamics. As simulations progress, ‘favoured places’ emerge at locations where paths cross between fixed resources, with such paths becoming entrenched. Large sites increase in size while small sites aggregate or disappear, creating a power-law distribution of material culture densities with an increasing exponent. Generalisation of model results allows the formulation of hypotheses concerning the dynamic processes of mobility underlying the static distributions of archaeological sites; the findings are of particular value in examining palimpsest data.

The AAPA website can be found at: http://www.physanth.org/

Grove, M.J. 2008c. Data-driven spatial analytic methods for prehistoric land use reconstruction, Us and Them: Modeling Past Genetic, Linguistic, and Cultural Boundaries, Universite Bordeaux 1, 15-17th May.

The study of prehistoric land use in archaeology has a considerable history, but has until recently lacked the sound quantitative basis necessary to allow the comparison of mobility patterns across the broad temporal and geographic extent of the Palaeolithic. This paper builds a data-driven methodology for the reconstruction of land use based on the locations of archaeological sites and the materials they contain. The advocated procedures avoid many of the arbitrary assumptions associated with the standard spatial analytic techniques of ecology and geography, and provide a probabilistic approach to simulating mobility. Such approaches can profitably be applied to archaeological landscapes for the purposes of regional or temporal comparison.

A schedule and abstracts for the Us and Them Workshop can be found on the PACEA Website. Full presentations will be posted shortly. In the meantime, a PDF of my powerpoint presentation can be downloaded here.

Grove, M.J. and J. Steele, 2008. Characterizing forager movement patterns: ethnographic and archaeological examples, Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Vancouver, B.C., 27th March.

We explore the hypothesis that forager movement patterns correspond to Lévy walks, analysing ethnographic and archaeological data relating to intersite movement and raw material transfer distances. Initially, various hypothetical distributions are fitted to univariate data; following this exercise, the best fit distributions are employed as bivariate kernels for the mapping of land use intensities. The latter procedure leads to a consideration of turning angles between walk segments, distributions of which have often been assumed rather than tested. Taken together, our analyses aim to provide a fuller understanding of the applications of existing model distributions to archaeological data.

The SAA website can be found at: http://www.saa.org/

Links to posters, talks and publications from previous years:

Grove, M.J. 2005a. Ranges, resources and information: a cellular model, British Academy Centenary Research Project: Lucy to Language, Annual Conference, University of Southampton, 9th June 2005.

Conference abstracts: http://www.liv.ac.uk/lucy2003/soton_meeting_2005_schedule.pdf

Grove, M.J. 2005b. Social Learning and Variability Selection in Hominin Evolution: a Theoretical Model, Centre for the Evolutionary Analysis of Cultural Behaviour Final Conference, ‘Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution’, University College London, 14th-16th September 2005.

Poster PDF: CEACB Poster.pdf

Grove, M.J. 2006a. Lithics, Space, and the Central Place, Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference, Royal Geographical Society, 29th August-1st September 2006.

Session information:

http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/research/qeg/rgs_sessions_06.htm

General program:

http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/research/qeg/downloads/RGS-Session-PP.ppt.pdf

Conference abstracts:

http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/research/qeg/downloads/rgs2006_abstracts.pdf

Grove, M.J. 2006b. Variability Selection: Genetic and Cultural Mechanisms, London Evolutionary Research Network Annual Conference, Royal Zoological Society, 8th September 2006.

Conference schedule: http://www.cecd.ucl.ac.uk/home/?go1=57

Grove, M.J. 2006c. Group Size Increase from the Oldowan to the Acheulean at Olduvai Gorge, British Academy Centenary Research Project: Lucy to Language, Annual Conference, University of Liverpool, 18th-19th September 2006.

Conference schedule: http://www.liv.ac.uk/lucy2003/lucy_colloquium_2006.pdf

Grove, M.J. 2006d. Changing Patterns of Land Use: from the Oldowan to the Acheulean at Olduvai, The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in Context: a Conference in Honour of John Wymer (1928-2006), British Museum, 21st-22nd September 2006.

Grove, M.J. 2006e. From Typology to Behaviour: The Meanings of Intersite Variability in the Early Stone Age of East Africa, Theoretical Archaeology Group Annual Conference, University of Exeter, 15th-17th December 2006.

Session details: http://www.sogaer.ex.ac.uk/archaeology/tag/sessions/basell.shtml

Grove, M.J. and Coward, F. 2006. Stone Tools and Social Brains: The Socio-Cognitive Context of Stone Tool Manufacture, Theoretical Archaeology Group Annual Conference, University of Exeter, 15th-17th December 2006.

Session details: http://www.sogaer.ex.ac.uk/archaeology/tag/sessions/malafouris.shtml

Grove, M.J. 2007a. Lower Paleolithic land use: allometric and spatial analyses of population size and range area at Koobi Fora, Kenya, American Association of Physical Anthropologists Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28th-31st March 2007.

Abstract: AAPA Abstract 2007.pdf

Grove, M.J. 2007b. Lower Paleolithic land use: a comprehensive method and results from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas, 25th-29th April 2007.

Abstract: SAA Abstract 2007.pdf

Grove, M.J. 2007c. Social scales and scaling: ethnographic examples, British Academy Centenary Research Project: Lucy to Language, Annual Workshop, Royal Holloway, University of London, July 26th 2007.

Conference abstracts: http://www.liv.ac.uk/lucy2003/lucy_colloquium_2007.pdf

Grove, M.J. 2007d. A Walk in the Dust: Linking Paths and Places in Pastoralist Archaeology, Theoretical Archaeology Group Annual Conference, University of York, 14th-16th December 2007.

Session details: http://tag07.york.googlepages.com/l

Pre-circulated PDF (not for quotation; publication pending): Grove TAG2007.pdf

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