Utilizing agent-based modeling to gain new insights into the ancient minoan civilization

In this paper we develop an agent-based model to study land use, settlement, and social organization patterns at a particular region of the island of Crete during the Bronze Age. Considering farming as the main activity for sustaining the early Minoan civilization, we evaluate the impact of different social organization models and agricultural strategies on population viability and spatial distribution of settlement locations over a 2000 year period. Interestingly, one of the social models examined promotes the targeted redistribution of wealth, and is inspired by a recent framework for self-organizing agent organizations. Model parameters are based on archaeological studies, but are not biased towards any specific assumption. Results over a number of different simulation scenarios demonstrate an impressive sustainability for settlements adopting a socio-economic organization model based on self-organization; while the emerging “stratified” populations are larger than their egalitarian counterparts. This provides support for theories proposing the existence of different social strata in early Bronze Age Crete, considering them a pre-requisite for the emergence of the complex social structure evident in later periods. Moreover, observed population dispersion agrees with existing archaeological evidence.