this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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Researchers finally uncover how to play the 4,000-year-old Shahr-i Sokhta board game (archaeologymag.com)
submitted 5 days ago by sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al to c/archaeology@mander.xyz
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[–] protist@mander.xyz 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I can only assume you read the actual 78 page article and are comprehensively refuting the researchers' methodology based on your deep well of knowledge on this subject

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I did not, hence why I’m asking the question.

Besides, yes they did use AI of some kind:

Modern AI techniques are further aiding the understanding of ancient games. By simulating thousands of potential rulesets, AI algorithms help determine which rules result in enjoyable gameplay.

Edit:

I have now read the paper and have confirmed my issues with the methodologies. They said they are simulating rulesets using a self-play AI platform. They also seem to be assigning ideas they came up with to different game pieces, and then testing the rulesets with humans to see which ones are fun in several ways.

Whether a rule is fun is mostly unrelated to what the actual historical rule was. There are simply too many possibilities to claim they know what the solution is.

And of course, the headline is being sensationalist and saying things the authors aren’t. I do believe the authors are trying to present this ruleset as a plausibility rather than a true fact.