Benjamin Davies
Biographic Data
| ID | 3581126 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benjamin Davies |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benjamin |
| FAMILY NAME | Davies |
| SIGNATURE | DAVIES B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Utah |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9066-098X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 80 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 27 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Historic drought in northern Kenya shifts diet and mobility away from traditional pastoralism as resource security and nutrition falter
Author response of
Comprehension and production of English plural morphology by school-age deaf and hard-of-hearing children
Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) preschoolers have difficulty comprehending and producing English plural morphology. This study investigated their comprehension and production of the plural at primary-school age using novel words, to better understand their mental representation of plural morphology. Thirty 5- to 9-year-old DHH children and 31 children with normal hearing (NH) completed a two-alternative forced-choice comprehension task and a wug p…
Simulating the formation of herbivore tooth death assemblages to improve expectations for paleoenvironmental reconstruction from intra-tooth isotopic analysis
Understanding How and When Morphosyntax is Acquired
When acquiring the English plural, children correctly produce plural words long before they develop an understanding of morphological structure. When acquiring Sesotho noun prefixes, children are aware of the multiple constraints governing variation from a young age. Both of these cases raise questions about the Shin and Miller (2022) account of children’s acquisition of morphosyntactic variation
Palaeoenvironmental data indicate late quaternary anthropogenic impacts on vegetation and landscapes in Mzimba, northern Malawi
Landscapes are formed by long-term interactions between the underlying geology and climatic, edaphic and biotic factors, including human activity. The Kasitu Valley in the Mzimba District of northern Malawi includes the Kasitu River and its adjacent floodplains and uplands, and it has been a location of sustained human occupation since at least 16 thousand years ago (ka) based on archaeological excavations from rockshelters. We trace the changing…
Overarching Priorities for Health and Care Research in the United Kingdom
Patients or service users and carers were involved throughout the study, including deciding the aims, designing the study, analysing priorities to identify themes, interpreting and reporting the findings
From quartz curvature to late Holocene mobility at Spring Cave, Western Cape, South Africa
Ecosystem engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa
Despite advances in our understanding of the geographic and temporal scope of the Paleolithic record, we know remarkably little about the evolutionary and ecological consequences of changes in human behavior. Recent inquiries suggest that human evolution reflects a long history of interconnections between the behavior of humans and their surrounding ecosystems (e.g., niche construction). Developing expectations to identify such phenomena is remar…
Deflation Archaeology
Acquiring the Last Plural
English-speaking children use plural morphology from around the age of 2, yet often omit the syllabic plural allomorph /-əz/ until age 5 (e.g., bus(es)). It is not clear if this protracted acquisition is due to articulatory difficulties, low input frequency, or fricative-final words (e.g., bus, nose) being treated as already plural, raising questions about when and how the representation of the syllabic plural develops in perception. Novel-word i…
Comprehension of the copula
Subject–verb (SV) agreement helps listeners interpret the number condition of ambiguous nouns ( The sheep is/are fat ), yet it remains unclear whether young children use agreement to comprehend newly encountered nouns. Preschoolers and adults completed a forced choice task where sentences contained singular vs. plural copulas ( Where is/are the [novel noun(s)]? ). Novel nouns were either morphologically unambiguous ( tup / tups ) or ambiguous (/g…
Preliminary archaeological survey and remote-sensing of shell mounds at Kwokkunum, Albatross Bay, Cape York Peninsula, Australia
Shell mounds are a prominent part of the Cape York Peninsula archaeological record. A short period of fieldwork allowed initial assessment of their presence, size, and shape in the Kwokkunum region, Albatross Bay. Shell mounds found in this area vary in size with some examples amongst the largest found in the Cape York Peninsula. Comparison of terrestrial and airborne LiDAR data suggests that shell mounds in areas like Kwokkunum may be identified…
Agent-Based Modeling, Scientific Reproducibility, and Taphonomy
There is a growing use of agent-based model (ABM) simulations to reconstruct past human-environment interactions. ABMs are useful in that they offer scientists the opportunity to model processes and study phenomena and systems that may not be otherwise reproducible or testable. Replication or re-implementation studies of ABMs are, however, infrequently undertaken, and there are few examples within archaeology or other social sciences. This paper …
Deriving original nodule size of lithic reduction sets from cortical curvature
Relatedness, complexity and local growth
We derive a measure of the relatedness between economic activities based on weighted correlations of local employment shares. Our approach recognizes variation in the extent of local specialization and adjusts for differences in data quality between cities. We use our measure to estimate activity and city complexity, and examine the contribution of relatedness and complexity to urban employment growth in New Zealand. Relatedness and complexity ar…
Outreach in Archaeology with Agent-Based Modeling
A major challenge facing archaeologists is communicating our research to the public. Thankfully, new computational tools have enabled the testing and visualization of complex ideas in an easily packageable format. In this article we illustrate not only how agent-based modeling provides a platform for communicating complex ideas, but also how these game-like computer models can be explored and manipulated by members of the public therefore increas…
Agent-Based Modeling for Archaeologists
Formal models of past human societies informed by archaeological research have a high potential for shaping some of the most topical current debates. Agent-based models, which emphasize how actions by individuals combine to produce global patterns, provide a convenient framework for developing quantitative models of historical social processes. However, being derived from computer science, the method remains largely specialized in archaeology. In…
Combining Geographic Information Systems and Agent-Based Models in Archaeology
Archaeologists are using spatial data in increasingly sophisticated analyses and invoking more explicit considerations of space in their interpretations. Geographic information systems (GIS) have become standard technology for professional archaeologists in the collection and management of spatial data. Many calls have been made to develop and adapt digital geospatial technologies for interpretation and understanding past social dynamics, but thi…
Surface Stone Artifact Scatters, Settlement Patterns, and New Methods for Stone Artifact Analysis
Modeling Relationships Between Space, Movement, and Lithic Geometric Attributes
Evidence for changes in human mobility is fundamental to interpretations of transitions in human socioeconomic organization. Showing changes in mobility requires both archaeological proxies that are sensitive to movement and a clear understanding of how different mobility configurations influence their patterning. This study uses computer simulation to explore how different combinations of reduction, selection, transport, and discard of stone art…
Aboriginal Use of Fire in a Landscape Context
A case study from western New South Wales, Australia, illustrates the age, preservation, and distribution of late Holocene heat-retainer hearths that are abundant in the semiarid archaeological record in the region. These hearths were constructed as underground ovens with stone heat retainers. They appear archaeologically as eroded concentrations of heat-fractured stone sometimes protecting charcoal deposits. We explore geomorphic processes influ…
Computational Approaches to Archaeological Spaces - A. Bevan and M. Lake
In many ways archaeology is a spatial enterprise.The field practice of archaeology, that is survey and excavation, could be boiled down to locating and recording objects in three-dimensional space.The analysis of archaeological data, whether in the field or laboratory, is often done with regard for spatial distributions of artefacts and associations between them and their depositional contexts.And many archaeological interpretations are oriented …
Modelling the palimpsest
Archaeologists make inferences about past human behaviour based on patterned material residues in various depositional contexts, including existing landsurfaces. These deposits are generated by processes that may obscure patterns at some observational scales while highlighting others, and interpretive differences can arise from a lack of explicit models of deposit formation. Here, an exploratory agent-based model based on the concept of the palim…
Contrastive and Non-contrastive Pre-stopping in Kaytetye
Kaytetye is one of the few Australian languages for which pre-stopping is contrastive for nasals. This paper provides the first quantitative data on the phonetic realization of contrastive pre-stopping for any Australian language. It also provides data on the hitherto unreported non-contrastive pre-stopping of laterals in Kaytetye. The findings demonstrate that contrastive nasal pre-stopping and non-contrastive lateral pre-stopping differ on thre…
Modeling Relationships Between Space, Movement, and Lithic Geometric Attributes
Evidence for changes in human mobility is fundamental to interpretations of transitions in human socioeconomic organization. Showing changes in mobility requires both archaeological proxies that are sensitive to movement and a clear understanding of how different mobility configurations influence their patterning. This study uses computer simulation to explore how different combinations of reduction, selection, transport, and discard of stone art…
Modelling the palimpsest
Archaeologists make inferences about past human behaviour based on patterned material residues in various depositional contexts, including existing landsurfaces. These deposits are generated by processes that may obscure patterns at some observational scales while highlighting others, and interpretive differences can arise from a lack of explicit models of deposit formation. Here, an exploratory agent-based model based on the concept of the palim…
Surface Stone Artifact Scatters, Settlement Patterns, and New Methods for Stone Artifact Analysis
Aboriginal Use of Fire in a Landscape Context
A case study from western New South Wales, Australia, illustrates the age, preservation, and distribution of late Holocene heat-retainer hearths that are abundant in the semiarid archaeological record in the region. These hearths were constructed as underground ovens with stone heat retainers. They appear archaeologically as eroded concentrations of heat-fractured stone sometimes protecting charcoal deposits. We explore geomorphic processes influ…
Relatedness, complexity and local growth
We derive a measure of the relatedness between economic activities based on weighted correlations of local employment shares. Our approach recognizes variation in the extent of local specialization and adjusts for differences in data quality between cities. We use our measure to estimate activity and city complexity, and examine the contribution of relatedness and complexity to urban employment growth in New Zealand. Relatedness and complexity ar…
Agent-Based Modeling for Archaeologists
Formal models of past human societies informed by archaeological research have a high potential for shaping some of the most topical current debates. Agent-based models, which emphasize how actions by individuals combine to produce global patterns, provide a convenient framework for developing quantitative models of historical social processes. However, being derived from computer science, the method remains largely specialized in archaeology. In…
Combining Geographic Information Systems and Agent-Based Models in Archaeology
Archaeologists are using spatial data in increasingly sophisticated analyses and invoking more explicit considerations of space in their interpretations. Geographic information systems (GIS) have become standard technology for professional archaeologists in the collection and management of spatial data. Many calls have been made to develop and adapt digital geospatial technologies for interpretation and understanding past social dynamics, but thi…
Deriving original nodule size of lithic reduction sets from cortical curvature
Contrastive and Non-contrastive Pre-stopping in Kaytetye
Kaytetye is one of the few Australian languages for which pre-stopping is contrastive for nasals. This paper provides the first quantitative data on the phonetic realization of contrastive pre-stopping for any Australian language. It also provides data on the hitherto unreported non-contrastive pre-stopping of laterals in Kaytetye. The findings demonstrate that contrastive nasal pre-stopping and non-contrastive lateral pre-stopping differ on thre…
From quartz curvature to late Holocene mobility at Spring Cave, Western Cape, South Africa
How to Use a Trafficked Woman. The Alliance between Political and Criminal Trafficking Organisations
The principal argument of this paper is that migrant women with secure mobility rights and supportive social networks can avoid or mitigate many trafficking harms. However the paper contends that some actors have conspired to prevent such circumstances so as to pursue diverse political agendas at the expense of migrant women. The paper’s analysis restructures the trafficking contest from organised criminals versus law enforcement agencies to prin…
How to Use a Trafficked Woman. The Alliance between Political and Criminal Trafficking Organisations
The principal argument of this paper is that migrant women with secure mobility rights and supportive social networks can avoid or mitigate many trafficking harms. However the paper contends that some actors have conspired to prevent such circumstances so as to pursue diverse political agendas at the expense of migrant women. The paper’s analysis restructures the trafficking contest from organised criminals versus law enforcement agencies to prin…
How did Remote Oceanic peoples get so big
Computational Approaches to Archaeological Spaces - A. Bevan and M. Lake
In many ways archaeology is a spatial enterprise.The field practice of archaeology, that is survey and excavation, could be boiled down to locating and recording objects in three-dimensional space.The analysis of archaeological data, whether in the field or laboratory, is often done with regard for spatial distributions of artefacts and associations between them and their depositional contexts.And many archaeological interpretations are oriented …
Modelling the palimpsest
Archaeologists make inferences about past human behaviour based on patterned material residues in various depositional contexts, including existing landsurfaces. These deposits are generated by processes that may obscure patterns at some observational scales while highlighting others, and interpretive differences can arise from a lack of explicit models of deposit formation. Here, an exploratory agent-based model based on the concept of the palim…
Contrastive and Non-contrastive Pre-stopping in Kaytetye
Kaytetye is one of the few Australian languages for which pre-stopping is contrastive for nasals. This paper provides the first quantitative data on the phonetic realization of contrastive pre-stopping for any Australian language. It also provides data on the hitherto unreported non-contrastive pre-stopping of laterals in Kaytetye. The findings demonstrate that contrastive nasal pre-stopping and non-contrastive lateral pre-stopping differ on thre…
Aboriginal Use of Fire in a Landscape Context
A case study from western New South Wales, Australia, illustrates the age, preservation, and distribution of late Holocene heat-retainer hearths that are abundant in the semiarid archaeological record in the region. These hearths were constructed as underground ovens with stone heat retainers. They appear archaeologically as eroded concentrations of heat-fractured stone sometimes protecting charcoal deposits. We explore geomorphic processes influ…
Modeling Relationships Between Space, Movement, and Lithic Geometric Attributes
Evidence for changes in human mobility is fundamental to interpretations of transitions in human socioeconomic organization. Showing changes in mobility requires both archaeological proxies that are sensitive to movement and a clear understanding of how different mobility configurations influence their patterning. This study uses computer simulation to explore how different combinations of reduction, selection, transport, and discard of stone art…
Outreach in Archaeology with Agent-Based Modeling
A major challenge facing archaeologists is communicating our research to the public. Thankfully, new computational tools have enabled the testing and visualization of complex ideas in an easily packageable format. In this article we illustrate not only how agent-based modeling provides a platform for communicating complex ideas, but also how these game-like computer models can be explored and manipulated by members of the public therefore increas…
Agent-Based Modeling for Archaeologists
Formal models of past human societies informed by archaeological research have a high potential for shaping some of the most topical current debates. Agent-based models, which emphasize how actions by individuals combine to produce global patterns, provide a convenient framework for developing quantitative models of historical social processes. However, being derived from computer science, the method remains largely specialized in archaeology. In…
Combining Geographic Information Systems and Agent-Based Models in Archaeology
Archaeologists are using spatial data in increasingly sophisticated analyses and invoking more explicit considerations of space in their interpretations. Geographic information systems (GIS) have become standard technology for professional archaeologists in the collection and management of spatial data. Many calls have been made to develop and adapt digital geospatial technologies for interpretation and understanding past social dynamics, but thi…
Surface Stone Artifact Scatters, Settlement Patterns, and New Methods for Stone Artifact Analysis
Deflation Archaeology
Acquiring the Last Plural
English-speaking children use plural morphology from around the age of 2, yet often omit the syllabic plural allomorph /-əz/ until age 5 (e.g., bus(es)). It is not clear if this protracted acquisition is due to articulatory difficulties, low input frequency, or fricative-final words (e.g., bus, nose) being treated as already plural, raising questions about when and how the representation of the syllabic plural develops in perception. Novel-word i…
Comprehension of the copula
Subject–verb (SV) agreement helps listeners interpret the number condition of ambiguous nouns ( The sheep is/are fat ), yet it remains unclear whether young children use agreement to comprehend newly encountered nouns. Preschoolers and adults completed a forced choice task where sentences contained singular vs. plural copulas ( Where is/are the [novel noun(s)]? ). Novel nouns were either morphologically unambiguous ( tup / tups ) or ambiguous (/g…
Preliminary archaeological survey and remote-sensing of shell mounds at Kwokkunum, Albatross Bay, Cape York Peninsula, Australia
Shell mounds are a prominent part of the Cape York Peninsula archaeological record. A short period of fieldwork allowed initial assessment of their presence, size, and shape in the Kwokkunum region, Albatross Bay. Shell mounds found in this area vary in size with some examples amongst the largest found in the Cape York Peninsula. Comparison of terrestrial and airborne LiDAR data suggests that shell mounds in areas like Kwokkunum may be identified…
Agent-Based Modeling, Scientific Reproducibility, and Taphonomy
There is a growing use of agent-based model (ABM) simulations to reconstruct past human-environment interactions. ABMs are useful in that they offer scientists the opportunity to model processes and study phenomena and systems that may not be otherwise reproducible or testable. Replication or re-implementation studies of ABMs are, however, infrequently undertaken, and there are few examples within archaeology or other social sciences. This paper …
Deriving original nodule size of lithic reduction sets from cortical curvature
Relatedness, complexity and local growth
We derive a measure of the relatedness between economic activities based on weighted correlations of local employment shares. Our approach recognizes variation in the extent of local specialization and adjusts for differences in data quality between cities. We use our measure to estimate activity and city complexity, and examine the contribution of relatedness and complexity to urban employment growth in New Zealand. Relatedness and complexity ar…
Ecosystem engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa
Despite advances in our understanding of the geographic and temporal scope of the Paleolithic record, we know remarkably little about the evolutionary and ecological consequences of changes in human behavior. Recent inquiries suggest that human evolution reflects a long history of interconnections between the behavior of humans and their surrounding ecosystems (e.g., niche construction). Developing expectations to identify such phenomena is remar…
From quartz curvature to late Holocene mobility at Spring Cave, Western Cape, South Africa
Understanding How and When Morphosyntax is Acquired
When acquiring the English plural, children correctly produce plural words long before they develop an understanding of morphological structure. When acquiring Sesotho noun prefixes, children are aware of the multiple constraints governing variation from a young age. Both of these cases raise questions about the Shin and Miller (2022) account of children’s acquisition of morphosyntactic variation
Palaeoenvironmental data indicate late quaternary anthropogenic impacts on vegetation and landscapes in Mzimba, northern Malawi
Landscapes are formed by long-term interactions between the underlying geology and climatic, edaphic and biotic factors, including human activity. The Kasitu Valley in the Mzimba District of northern Malawi includes the Kasitu River and its adjacent floodplains and uplands, and it has been a location of sustained human occupation since at least 16 thousand years ago (ka) based on archaeological excavations from rockshelters. We trace the changing…
Overarching Priorities for Health and Care Research in the United Kingdom
Patients or service users and carers were involved throughout the study, including deciding the aims, designing the study, analysing priorities to identify themes, interpreting and reporting the findings
Comprehension and production of English plural morphology by school-age deaf and hard-of-hearing children
Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) preschoolers have difficulty comprehending and producing English plural morphology. This study investigated their comprehension and production of the plural at primary-school age using novel words, to better understand their mental representation of plural morphology. Thirty 5- to 9-year-old DHH children and 31 children with normal hearing (NH) completed a two-alternative forced-choice comprehension task and a wug p…
Simulating the formation of herbivore tooth death assemblages to improve expectations for paleoenvironmental reconstruction from intra-tooth isotopic analysis
Archaeology (14 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Geography (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (10 works) · Geology (9 works) · Paleontology (7 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (7 works) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (5 works) · Biology (5 works) · History (5 works)