Abstract
Archaeologists and animal behaviorists have provided increasingly sophisticated descriptions of how hominids and animals construct operational sequences. The ability to translate these detailed descriptions into a measurable comparative format of relative complexity would provide a useful tool for describing patterns of evolutionary change. Cyclomatic Complexity, k-paths, and k-cycles are three metrics from computer science and graph theory that can index the Operational Complexity of an operational sequence. These methods are applied to the production of an Acheulean handaxe and various animal behaviors.
Recommended Citation
Mahaney, Robert A.
(2013)
"Measuring the Evolution of Toolmaking Complexity: Indices of Operational Complexity,"
Journal of Contemporary Anthropology: Vol. 4
:
Iss.
1,
Article 4.
Available at:
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/jca/vol4/iss1/4