Mathematical Model Tracks Changes in Neolithic Societies Through Pottery

MAINZ, GERMANY—According to a statement released by the Leibniz Center for Archaeology (LEIZA), Aleksandr Diachenko of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Detlef Gronenborn of LEIZA and Johannes Gutenberg University evaluated the roles of population size, production capacity, and information exchange in societal changes through pottery. “We developed a mathematical model to describe how the organization and intensity of pottery production can influence the number of decoration styles,” said Diachenko. “Additionally, the model reveals how pottery styles evolve through human information exchange and population growth,” he explained. The study examined 7,000-year-old pottery from the Linear Pottery culture unearthed in southwestern Germany, and 6,000-year-old pottery from the Western Trypillia culture recovered in central Ukraine. The model determined that both groups grew rapidly, then declined. But in Germany, increased social complexity was first accompanied by greater diversity in pottery decorations that later diminished. In Ukraine, however, pottery styles became more uniform as social complexity increased, likely due to craft specialization, the researchers concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS One. To read more about Germany's Linear Pottery culture, go to “A Surprising Encounter.”