The act of making diagrams will force the researcher to clearly articulate the relationships that are assumed to exist. In addition, when diagramming is completed, the researcher is presented with a tool for walking through unanticipated system dynamics. At that point also, recognizable patterns may emerge, and predictions about limits, pulsing, or other behaviors can be made. The next step will be to construct models using empirical data on flows and storages. Two paths can be taken, simulations and emergy analyses .
Simulations give indications of the dynamic processes that interrelate storages in an ecosystem.
Emergy analyses provide indices that can be used to compare cases cross-culturally. In the four cases above, an attempt was made to produce systems diagrams with enough detail to identify key processes at appropriate scales. Following each system diagram is a list of important processes that can be identified from the diagram. The next two diagrams are the contrasting case of the Amazon basin, where state societies did not emerge.