Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation

Decisions on settlement location in the face of climate change and coastal inundation may have resulted in success, survival or even catastrophic failure for early settlers in many parts of the world. In this study, we investigate various questions related to how individuals respond to a palaeoenvir...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ch'ng, Eugene, Gaffney, Vince, Hakvoort, Gido
Format: Article
Published: Wiley 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47330/
_version_ 1848797518635204608
author Ch'ng, Eugene
Gaffney, Vince
Hakvoort, Gido
author_facet Ch'ng, Eugene
Gaffney, Vince
Hakvoort, Gido
author_sort Ch'ng, Eugene
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Decisions on settlement location in the face of climate change and coastal inundation may have resulted in success, survival or even catastrophic failure for early settlers in many parts of the world. In this study, we investigate various questions related to how individuals respond to a palaeoenvironmental simulation, on an interactive tabletop device where participants have the opportunity to build a settlement on a coastal land- scape, balancing safety, and access to resources, including sea and terrestrial foodstuffs, while taking into con- sideration the threat of rising sea levels. The results of the study were analyzed to consider whether decisions on settlement were predicated to be near to locations where previous structures were located, stigmergically, and whether later settler choice would fare better, and score higher, as time progressed. The proximity of settlements was investigated and the reasons for clustering were considered. The interactive simulation was exhibited to thousands of visitors at the 2012 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition at the ‘‘Europe’s Lost World’’ exhibit. 347 participants contributed to the simulation, providing a sufficiently large sample of data for analysis.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:05:09Z
format Article
id nottingham-47330
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:05:09Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Wiley
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-473302020-05-04T18:16:13Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47330/ Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation Ch'ng, Eugene Gaffney, Vince Hakvoort, Gido Decisions on settlement location in the face of climate change and coastal inundation may have resulted in success, survival or even catastrophic failure for early settlers in many parts of the world. In this study, we investigate various questions related to how individuals respond to a palaeoenvironmental simulation, on an interactive tabletop device where participants have the opportunity to build a settlement on a coastal land- scape, balancing safety, and access to resources, including sea and terrestrial foodstuffs, while taking into con- sideration the threat of rising sea levels. The results of the study were analyzed to consider whether decisions on settlement were predicated to be near to locations where previous structures were located, stigmergically, and whether later settler choice would fare better, and score higher, as time progressed. The proximity of settlements was investigated and the reasons for clustering were considered. The interactive simulation was exhibited to thousands of visitors at the 2012 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition at the ‘‘Europe’s Lost World’’ exhibit. 347 participants contributed to the simulation, providing a sufficiently large sample of data for analysis. Wiley 2016-10-20 Article PeerReviewed Ch'ng, Eugene, Gaffney, Vince and Hakvoort, Gido (2016) Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation. Complexity, 21 (3). pp. 59-73. ISSN 1099-0526 stigmergy; simulation; settlement choice; palaeoenvironment; cooperative behavior https://doi.org/10.1002/cplx.21616 doi:10.1002/cplx.21616 doi:10.1002/cplx.21616
spellingShingle stigmergy; simulation; settlement choice; palaeoenvironment; cooperative behavior
Ch'ng, Eugene
Gaffney, Vince
Hakvoort, Gido
Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation
title Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation
title_full Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation
title_fullStr Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation
title_full_unstemmed Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation
title_short Stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation
title_sort stigmergy in comparative settlement choice and palaeoenvironment simulation
topic stigmergy; simulation; settlement choice; palaeoenvironment; cooperative behavior
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47330/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47330/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47330/