One of the advantages of simulation models is the ability to develop models which explore the future (economic development, climate change) or the past (archaeology). In this chapter we discuss examples of the use of models in archaeology to compare possible explanations of the rise and fall of ancient societies (Kohler and van der Leeuw, 2007).

In discussing these models we also will discuss some more complicated models where data is imported to the model. For example, importing data to recreate historical landscapes and climate records.