Research Programs

The Great Circle

A quantitative analysis of ancient monument distribution along a great circle path. Using 550,000+ sites from 8 independent databases, the program tests whether monuments cluster along the Alison great circle at rates exceeding chance under land-constrained baselines.

Key Findings

• Monument enrichment ratio: 2.52× (Z = 6.74, p < 0.001)
• Settlement anti-clustering: Z = −2.91 — the pattern is monument-specific
• Temporal peak: 3000–2000 BCE (Egyptian Old Kingdom pyramids)
• Zero of 10,000 random great circles replicate the combined divergence

Papers

Merged paper (JAS:Reports, under review) · Paper 3 (JAMT, under review) · Orion paper (JHA, submitted) · Acoustics paper (JASA, under review) · YDIH paper (Quaternary International, under review)

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Emergent Precision

A cross-domain quantitative framework testing whether oral traditions encode measurable physical information. The program identifies the observability gradient — a systematic relationship between how observable a phenomenon is and how accurately oral traditions preserve information about it.

Key Findings

• Observability–accuracy correlation: r = 0.899 (p = 0.015)
• Flood direction traditions: 11/11 correct, mean error 13.7° (p = 2.7 × 10⁻&sup6;)
• Torres Strait stepping stones: pre-registered predictions confirmed at 30 m resolution
• Transmission stability: 82% accuracy after 7,000+ years (4 orders above standard models)

Papers

Emergent Precision (Nature Human Behaviour, under review) · Songlines (under cultural consultation)

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Culture as Computation

A formal mathematical framework modeling cultural transmission as a form of evolutionary computation. The program investigates phase transitions in oral systems — conditions under which cultural noise is suppressed and accurate information persists — and tests predictions against ethnographic data.

Status: In preparation — expected 2026

Planned Papers

Phase transition paper · BBS framework paper · Convergent fire management

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