Colin D Wren
Biographic Data
| ID | 3072685 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Colin D Wren |
| GIVEN NAMES | Colin D |
| FAMILY NAME | Wren |
| SIGNATURE | WREN C D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Colorado Colorado Springs |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4940-3997 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 51 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Adaptive Strategies of Indigenous Nenets Reindeer Herders for Climate Change in Yamal
Nenets reindeer pastoralists of Yamal in the Russian Arctic, successfully deal with rapidly changing climate and natural gas industrialization. We present results from our long-term ethnographic study (2001–present) on the adaptive strategies that Nenets nomadic households have employed over time, their tradeoffs, inherent risks, and social implications of these strategies. While some strategies limit the adaptive flexibility of herding, they sim…
Climate frameworks for the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in Northwest Africa
This paper examines climate conditions in Northwest Africa for Marine Isotope Stage 4, 3, and 2 (71,000–11,000 years ago) and their impact on the distribution of potential suitable areas on a regional scale. The analysis uses climate simulations to model: 1) the geographical extent and variability of macro-refugia based on ethnographic data; and 2) the frequency of suitable areas based on climate ranges obtained at dated archaeological occupation…
The Last of Them
Evidence for deliberate burial of the dead by Homo naledi
Recent excavations in the Rising Star Cave System of South Africa have revealed burials of the extinct hominin species Homo naledi. A combination of geological and anatomical evidence shows that hominins dug holes that disrupted the subsurface stratigraphy and interred the remains of H. naledi individuals, resulting in at least two discrete features within the Dinaledi Chamber and the Hill Antechamber. These are the most ancient interments yet re…
Benchmarking methods and data for the whole-outline geometric morphometric analysis of lithic tools
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Cultural Evolution Society for funding this workshop. Additional costs were covered by funds made available by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (project COMPARCH, Grant Number 1113-00015B). David N. Matzig and Felix Riede's contributions are part of CLIOARCH, an ERC Consolidator Grant project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and …
Were prehistoric coastal sites more intensively occupied than inland sites? Using an agent-based model to understand the intensity of prehistoric coastal occupation, and what it means for studies on t…
Retrodicting large herbivore biomass for the last glacial maximum on the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (South Africa) using modern ecological knowledge of African herbivore assemblages and rainfall
Herbivore distribution throughout Africa is strongly linked to mean annual precipitation. We use that relationship to predict functional group composition of herbivore communities during the last glacial maximum (ca. 21 ka) on the now submerged Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (PAP), South Africa. We used metabolic large herbivore biomass (MLHB) from 39 South African protected areas, in five functional groups (characterized by behavior and physiology). We ex…
The archaeology of climate change
Anthropogenic climate change is currently driving environmental transformation on a scale and at a pace that exceeds historical records. This represents an undeniably serious challenge to existing social, political, and economic systems. Humans have successfully faced similar challenges in the past, however. The archaeological record and Earth archives offer rare opportunities to observe the complex interaction between environmental and human sys…
Exploring variability in lithic armature discard in the archaeological record
An agent-based approach to weighted decision making in the spatially and temporally variable South African Palaeoscape
Even a simple human foraging system has a large number of moving parts. Foragers require a complex decision making process to effectively exploit the spatially and temporally variable resources in an environment. Here we present an agent-based modelling framework, based in optimal foraging theory, for agent foragers to make mobility and foraging decisions by weighing expected caloric returns against geographic and social factors, and forecasted f…
Agent-based least-cost path analysis and the diffusion of Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian engraved scapulae
At the root of numerous archaeological research projects is a need to understand how mobility impacted the lives of our ancestors. Recent technological advances have made it easy for archaeologists to rely on Geographic Information Systems’ least-cost path tools to identify the single easiest path to move between two points set in a realistically rugged landscape; however, least-cost path tools work on the assumption that the whole world is perfe…
Settlement choice under conditions of rapid shoreline displacement in Wemindji Cree Territory, subarctic Quebec
Agent-based least-cost path analysis and the diffusion of Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian engraved scapulae
Does Environmental Knowledge Inhibit Hominin Dispersal
We investigated the relationship between the dispersal potential of a hominin population, its local-scale foraging strategies, and the characteristics of the resource environment using an agent-based modeling approach. In previous work we demonstrated that natural selection can favor a relatively low capacity for assessing and predicting the quality of the resource environment, especially when the distribution of resources is highly clustered. Th…
The role of spatial foresight in models of hominin dispersal
Social Complexity in the Mid-Holocene Northeastern Bothnian Gulf
There was a period of reduced mobility, increased population density, and social complexity among hunter–gatherers in northern Bothnian prehistory between about 4050 and 2050 cal BC. We argue that this was made possible by a combination of physical and social factors that include the shortening of the coastline due to isostatic land uplift, the reduction of distances between major river mouths along the Bothnian coast, and the local variability i…
Agent-based least-cost path analysis and the diffusion of Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian engraved scapulae
Exploring variability in lithic armature discard in the archaeological record
Social Complexity in the Mid-Holocene Northeastern Bothnian Gulf
There was a period of reduced mobility, increased population density, and social complexity among hunter–gatherers in northern Bothnian prehistory between about 4050 and 2050 cal BC. We argue that this was made possible by a combination of physical and social factors that include the shortening of the coastline due to isostatic land uplift, the reduction of distances between major river mouths along the Bothnian coast, and the local variability i…
Benchmarking methods and data for the whole-outline geometric morphometric analysis of lithic tools
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Cultural Evolution Society for funding this workshop. Additional costs were covered by funds made available by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (project COMPARCH, Grant Number 1113-00015B). David N. Matzig and Felix Riede's contributions are part of CLIOARCH, an ERC Consolidator Grant project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and …
Evidence for deliberate burial of the dead by Homo naledi
Recent excavations in the Rising Star Cave System of South Africa have revealed burials of the extinct hominin species Homo naledi. A combination of geological and anatomical evidence shows that hominins dug holes that disrupted the subsurface stratigraphy and interred the remains of H. naledi individuals, resulting in at least two discrete features within the Dinaledi Chamber and the Hill Antechamber. These are the most ancient interments yet re…
The role of spatial foresight in models of hominin dispersal
Does Environmental Knowledge Inhibit Hominin Dispersal
We investigated the relationship between the dispersal potential of a hominin population, its local-scale foraging strategies, and the characteristics of the resource environment using an agent-based modeling approach. In previous work we demonstrated that natural selection can favor a relatively low capacity for assessing and predicting the quality of the resource environment, especially when the distribution of resources is highly clustered. Th…
Were prehistoric coastal sites more intensively occupied than inland sites? Using an agent-based model to understand the intensity of prehistoric coastal occupation, and what it means for studies on t…
Climate frameworks for the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in Northwest Africa
This paper examines climate conditions in Northwest Africa for Marine Isotope Stage 4, 3, and 2 (71,000–11,000 years ago) and their impact on the distribution of potential suitable areas on a regional scale. The analysis uses climate simulations to model: 1) the geographical extent and variability of macro-refugia based on ethnographic data; and 2) the frequency of suitable areas based on climate ranges obtained at dated archaeological occupation…
An agent-based approach to weighted decision making in the spatially and temporally variable South African Palaeoscape
Even a simple human foraging system has a large number of moving parts. Foragers require a complex decision making process to effectively exploit the spatially and temporally variable resources in an environment. Here we present an agent-based modelling framework, based in optimal foraging theory, for agent foragers to make mobility and foraging decisions by weighing expected caloric returns against geographic and social factors, and forecasted f…
Social Complexity in the Mid-Holocene Northeastern Bothnian Gulf
There was a period of reduced mobility, increased population density, and social complexity among hunter–gatherers in northern Bothnian prehistory between about 4050 and 2050 cal BC. We argue that this was made possible by a combination of physical and social factors that include the shortening of the coastline due to isostatic land uplift, the reduction of distances between major river mouths along the Bothnian coast, and the local variability i…
The role of spatial foresight in models of hominin dispersal
Does Environmental Knowledge Inhibit Hominin Dispersal
We investigated the relationship between the dispersal potential of a hominin population, its local-scale foraging strategies, and the characteristics of the resource environment using an agent-based modeling approach. In previous work we demonstrated that natural selection can favor a relatively low capacity for assessing and predicting the quality of the resource environment, especially when the distribution of resources is highly clustered. Th…
Agent-based least-cost path analysis and the diffusion of Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian engraved scapulae
At the root of numerous archaeological research projects is a need to understand how mobility impacted the lives of our ancestors. Recent technological advances have made it easy for archaeologists to rely on Geographic Information Systems’ least-cost path tools to identify the single easiest path to move between two points set in a realistically rugged landscape; however, least-cost path tools work on the assumption that the whole world is perfe…
Settlement choice under conditions of rapid shoreline displacement in Wemindji Cree Territory, subarctic Quebec
Agent-based least-cost path analysis and the diffusion of Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian engraved scapulae
An agent-based approach to weighted decision making in the spatially and temporally variable South African Palaeoscape
Even a simple human foraging system has a large number of moving parts. Foragers require a complex decision making process to effectively exploit the spatially and temporally variable resources in an environment. Here we present an agent-based modelling framework, based in optimal foraging theory, for agent foragers to make mobility and foraging decisions by weighing expected caloric returns against geographic and social factors, and forecasted f…
Retrodicting large herbivore biomass for the last glacial maximum on the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (South Africa) using modern ecological knowledge of African herbivore assemblages and rainfall
Herbivore distribution throughout Africa is strongly linked to mean annual precipitation. We use that relationship to predict functional group composition of herbivore communities during the last glacial maximum (ca. 21 ka) on the now submerged Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (PAP), South Africa. We used metabolic large herbivore biomass (MLHB) from 39 South African protected areas, in five functional groups (characterized by behavior and physiology). We ex…
The archaeology of climate change
Anthropogenic climate change is currently driving environmental transformation on a scale and at a pace that exceeds historical records. This represents an undeniably serious challenge to existing social, political, and economic systems. Humans have successfully faced similar challenges in the past, however. The archaeological record and Earth archives offer rare opportunities to observe the complex interaction between environmental and human sys…
Exploring variability in lithic armature discard in the archaeological record
Were prehistoric coastal sites more intensively occupied than inland sites? Using an agent-based model to understand the intensity of prehistoric coastal occupation, and what it means for studies on t…
The Last of Them
Evidence for deliberate burial of the dead by Homo naledi
Recent excavations in the Rising Star Cave System of South Africa have revealed burials of the extinct hominin species Homo naledi. A combination of geological and anatomical evidence shows that hominins dug holes that disrupted the subsurface stratigraphy and interred the remains of H. naledi individuals, resulting in at least two discrete features within the Dinaledi Chamber and the Hill Antechamber. These are the most ancient interments yet re…
Benchmarking methods and data for the whole-outline geometric morphometric analysis of lithic tools
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Cultural Evolution Society for funding this workshop. Additional costs were covered by funds made available by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (project COMPARCH, Grant Number 1113-00015B). David N. Matzig and Felix Riede's contributions are part of CLIOARCH, an ERC Consolidator Grant project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and …
Adaptive Strategies of Indigenous Nenets Reindeer Herders for Climate Change in Yamal
Nenets reindeer pastoralists of Yamal in the Russian Arctic, successfully deal with rapidly changing climate and natural gas industrialization. We present results from our long-term ethnographic study (2001–present) on the adaptive strategies that Nenets nomadic households have employed over time, their tradeoffs, inherent risks, and social implications of these strategies. While some strategies limit the adaptive flexibility of herding, they sim…
Climate frameworks for the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in Northwest Africa
This paper examines climate conditions in Northwest Africa for Marine Isotope Stage 4, 3, and 2 (71,000–11,000 years ago) and their impact on the distribution of potential suitable areas on a regional scale. The analysis uses climate simulations to model: 1) the geographical extent and variability of macro-refugia based on ethnographic data; and 2) the frequency of suitable areas based on climate ranges obtained at dated archaeological occupation…
Geography (15 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (12 works) · Archaeology (11 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (8 works) · Biology (8 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Ecology (6 works) · Geology (6 works) · Population (6 works) · Ecology (5 works)