CfP - EAA Session #276 - Networks as Resources for Ancient Communities

When and how did networking become a resource for ancient communities? Were these networks perceived by ancient societies and actors as a means to perform and assert social, personal and group identities? Covering various periods and geo-cultural areas from Iran to the western Mediterranean, with a strong focus on classical antiquity, the papers collected here approach the topic of network as resources in three different but interrelated thematic domains: the interaction between societies and the natural environment (socio-natural networks), the transmission of knowledge and habitus (networks of knowledge and power) and religious interactions (sacred landscape). The social values that communities attribute to the networks they are embedded in are opened up to new interpretative layers, dynamics and scales. Looking at networks as resources changes our perspective on both terms of the equation. On the one hand, ancient networks are reframed in their relational and social contexts and linked to their actors’ intentions and perceptions. On the other hand, the properties of specifi c networks, such as fl uidity, redundancy and the strength and fragility of relationships, shed new light on resources and resource-related socio-cultural dynamics.

eTopoi Journal for Ancient Studies. Special Volume 7 (2020): Political and Economic Interaction on the Edge of Early Empires, ed. by David A. Warburton, 2020

This paper introduces key concepts of network theory and analysis, and their relevance to archaeological research. The framework is compared to alternative approaches, in particular World-Systems Theory (WST) and its offshoot, World-Systems Analysis (WSA). After reviewing both strengths and weaknesses of a networks perspective through relevant examples, the discussion highlights potential developments for understanding cultural connectivity with particular reference to social complexity.

The application of method and theory from network science to ar- chaeology has dramatically increased over the last decade. In this article, we document this growth over time, discuss several of the important concepts that are used in the application of network approaches to archaeology, and introduce the other articles in this special issue on networks in archaeology. We argue that the suitability and contribution of network science techniques within particular archaeological research contexts can be usefully explored by scruti- nizing the past phenomena under study, how these are abstracted into concepts, and how these in turn are represented as network data. For this reason, each of the articles in this special issue is discussed in terms of the phenomena that they seek to address, the abstraction in terms of concepts that they use to study connectivity, and the representations of network data that they employ in their analyses. The approaches currently being used are diverse and interdisciplinary, which we think are evidence of a healthy exploratory stage in the application of network science in archaeology. To facilitate further innovation, application, and collaboration, we also provide a glossary of terms that are currently being used in network science and especially those in the applications to archaeological case studies.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , 2023

Scientists are regularly troubled with the way ancient societies communicated, interacted and functioned due to lack of written records. However, many of the artefacts and remains of material culture found along excavations suggest trading networks and communication exchanges among different settlements.Οften, the geographical location of a site and its analysis can provide further insight into such communication networks. The aim of this paper is to study the interconnectivity among the organized settlements of the Kingdom of Nestor, i.e. the modern area of the Messenian Prefecture (Bennet, 1999; Nakassis, 2013; Simpson & Dickinson, 1979; Simpson, 1981), and attempt to derive the movement pattern within the rural landscape of the region. This methodology could also be applied to other aspects of organized societies, enhancing our knowledge of the widely unknown Ancient Networks. Furthermore, the authors introduce an additional application of GIS beyond spatial imaging and prediction modeling. Mycenaean Messenia is examined in this paper for two main reasons. First, the Mycenaean period is one of the historical periods in Greece without extensive written documentation excepting a limited number of clay tablets, and offers no specific testimonials of the functions of the residential complexes developed in the area. Second, based on the abundant number of settlements and burial sites found within the region, Messenia seems to have been a prominent and flourishing area during the Mycenaean period. 140 sites are examined in this study, a particularly large number when taking into consideration their archaeological significance. All the information was sourced the archaeological research that has been carried out in the area, as well as from the archives and catalogues of the

Call for Papers for the session "Networks in Archaeology and History" at the 3rd European Conference on Social Networks (EUSN), 26 - 29 September 2017, Mainz (http://www.eusn2017.uni-mainz.de/). Abstract submission deadline is March 31st.

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2015

The application of method and theory from network science to archaeology has dramatically increased over the last decade. In this article, we document this growth over time, discuss several of the important concepts that are used in the application of network approaches to archaeology, and introduce the other articles in this special issue on networks in archaeology. We argue that the suitability and contribution of network science techniques within particular archaeological research contexts can be usefully explored by scrutinizing the past phenomena under study, how these are abstracted into concepts, and how these in turn are represented as network data. For

Conference Paper Berlin 2015, 2016

This paper is based on an invited lecture given on the International Conference on: “Prehistoric Networks in the longue durée: Palaeolithic Innovations enabling the Neolithic Revolution” organized bei the Eurasian Department of the DAI Berlin (9.-11.12.2015). The conference was planned to be published by the DAI TOPOI but unfortunately it has never been managed (so far). Networking was basic for Upper and Final Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer groups to spread new ideas, innovations and knowledge and thus fundamental for their social life. Furthermore, regular exchanges with relatives and neighbours ensured small (family) groups to gain support in cases of emergency and during special ventures conducted during the process of socialization of young individuals (initialization) to become a fully approved member of their group. Under a today’s perspective, the high residential mobility of hunter-gatherer groups as the regular macro-moves of individuals caused some uniformity of the archaeological record within a region and during a given period of time. And at least, only this allowed the definition of archaeologically distinct techno-complexes. According to this my aim here is to present here some examples wich are in my view able to verify networking of neighbouring hunter-gatherer groups during the European (Late) Upper and Final Palaeolithic.

Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2019

Archaeologists reconstruct the activities and interactions of individuals using the accumulated material culture of the past, yet detecting these interactions can be difficult using traditional archaeological analytical tools. The development of a methodological framework emerging from graph theory, coupled with the growth of computational power and a growing multidisciplinary theoretical framework aimed at interpreting these analyses, have eased the difficulties of uncovering, analyzing, and interpreting networks in the past. From examining physical locations of sites and how they interact together (Peregrine 1991) to examining trade routes and migration pathways (Hofman et al. 2018), and the exchange of ideas across time and space (Mills et al. 2013), network approaches have infiltrated archaeology and grown exponentially in published studies (Brughmans 2013; Mills 2017).

Calapà 2019: A. Calapà, Sacred Caves and 'Fertility Cults'. Some Considerations about Cave Sanctuaries in Etruria. In: M. Bassani/M. Bolder-Boos/U. Fusco (eds.), Rethinking the Concept of 'Healing Settlements'. Waters, Cult, Construction and Contexts in the Ancient World (Oxford 2019) 121-132. de Cazanove 2003: O. de Cazanove, Le lieu de culte de Méfi tis dans les Ampsancti valles. Des sources documentaires hétérogènes. In: O. de Cazanove/J. Scheid (eds.), Sanctuaires et sources. Les sources documentaires et leurs limites dans la description des lieux de culte, Publication du Centre Jean Bérard (Naples 2003) 145-181, <https://books.openedition.org/pcjb/889> (last access: 08.03.2021).

Cambridge Archaeological Journal 24 (2), 2014