Rise, fall and abandonment in the zambezi plateau: an agent-based model using the canonical theory

Abstract

The Zambezi plateau region in Southern Africa has seen the rise and fall other several polities of different levels of complexity for many centuries before the arrival of Europeans and the beginning of the region's written history. One of the enduring questions this work raises is to explain the rise, fall and abandonment of large polities centered around large edifices with massive stone walls called "zimbabwes." The agent-based model presented here provides support for an explanation based on the Canonical Theory. In this theory, a succession of opportunities to engage in collective action by a polity strengthens or weakens the complexity of the polity. The main finding presented in the agent-based model is that group dynamics, centered on the collective feelings of loyalty to the group, can generate the macro level behavior that we see in the archeological record of Southern Africa.