Positioning Computational Modelling in Roman Studies

Abstract

AbstractThis final discussion chapter attempts to set out a way forward for the use of computational models in studies of the Roman economy, and more widely. In 2016 Greg Woolf correctly identified a lack of useful datasets for Social Network Analysis (SNA) as one of the limitations of that field. But for modelling the Roman economy, many more datasets are available than for SNA, and recent years have seen an increase in their numbers and comprehensiveness. This trend will only be helped by the Open Access movement, by moves towards Open Archaeology Data, and by the development of Linked Open Data protocols which allow cross-searching across multiple databases from different sources. Model libraries are available not only to enable researchers to test other modellers’ claims but also to encourage model re-use, improvement, adaptation, and extension. Computing power, accessible software, a growing array of datasets, and model libraries all combine to lower the barriers to getting into this kind of research. Computational modelling of important aspects of the Roman economy is already possible, as the chapters in this volume show, and the field offers a powerful set of tools to analyse an array of variables with a bearing on questions of movement, distribution, connectivity, production, trade, coin circulation, etc. The purpose of the discussion here is not to attempt to summarize the findings of earlier chapters but to sketch some avenues for how some of these questions might be pursued further, especially under the headings of: agriculture; transport, distribution, connectivity, and trade; demography; and epidemiology. A review of useful source datasets is given, together with a discussion of desiderata.