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Operations Research and Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Peter Bleed
Peter Bleed*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0368
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Abstract

Operations research is the systematic study of resource utilization through the manipulation of conceptual models. Used most often by engineers and managers, these models also have potential application in archaeology. Event tree analysis, which models multipart systems with a number of potential consequences resulting from a series of events, makes it possible to analyze artifact-production processes or the operation of complex economic activities such as hunting. Fault tree analysis models the interactions of factors that can cause a technological system to fail. It offers a framework for the interpretation of archaeological remains such as flintlock firearm parts at Indian and Euroamerican sites of the Great Plains.

Résumé

Résumé

Investigación de operaciones es el estudio sistemático de la utilización de recursos por medio de la manipulación de modelos conceptuales. Utilizados más frequentemente por ingenieros y administradores, estos modelos también tienen aplicación potencial en arqueología. El “event tree analysis” que modela sistemas de partes múltiples con un número de potenciales consecuencias que resultan de una serie de eventos, hace posible el análisis de los procesos de la producción de artefactos o la operación de actividades económicas complejas como la caza. El “fault tree analysis” modela la interacción de factores que pueden causar lafalla de un sistema tecnológico. Este ofrece un marco para la interpretación de restos arqueológicos tales como las partes de armas de chispa en sitios indígenas y euroamericanos de los Grandes Llanos.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , January 1991 , pp. 19 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1991

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