Virtual vs. Reality – Cyclicity in Modelled and Archaeological Data of Western Swiss Neolithic

Within the western Swiss Neolithic, lake shore settlements constitute a major archaeological site category, which is above all characterized by periodical and cyclic dynamics in space and time. These settlements offer high resolution chronological and well-preserved bioarchaeological remains, thereby constituting a promising ground for the application of simulation modelling approaches.
Those can contribute to an understanding and evaluation of diverse socioecological and subsistence scenarios assumed to represent past human-environmental interactions which ultimately led to the documented archaeological record. Already existing and extended models about the spatio-temporal behaviour and subsistence strategies of the neolithic lake shore communities, are inferred from the archaeological record and the long-lasting corpus of research. Hypotheses from those models concerning diverse processes, such as the choice of settlement locations, the land use strategies and other, are compiled and formalised to be simulated with the simulation model LUTES (Land Use and Technological Evolution Simulator). The socioecological system which is simulated, creates a data set which shows structurally similar patterns concerning settlement duration and landuse impact known from archaeological and palaeoenvironmental archives. Within the poster contribution presented, the archaeological data and the simulated data will be compared to broaden insights into the past human-environmental relationships culminating in cyclic patterns.