Archaeological Networks and Social Interaction

239 Pages·2020·50.254 MB·English

by  Lieve Donnellan

i
Archaeological Networks and

Social Interaction
Archaeological Networks and Social Interaction focuses on conceptuali­
sations of human interaction, human­ thing entanglement, material
affordances and agency.
Network concepts in the archaeological discipline are ubiquitous these
days. They range from loose concepts, used as metaphors to address a notion
of connectivity, to highly formal and mathematically complex predictions of
human behaviour. These different networked worlds sometimes clash and
rarely converge. Archaeologists interested in network analysis, however,
have achieved a much better understanding of the implications of adopting
formal methods for studying social interaction and there have been theor­
etical advancements realising a better synergy between different theoretical
perspectives. These nascent concerns are explored further in this volume
with regional specialists exploring case studies from Prehistory to the Middle
Ages throughout the Ancient and New Worlds, outlining how formal net­
work approaches contribute to studying social interaction archaeologically.
This book will be of interest to archaeologists wishing to access the latest
research on networks and interconnectivity and how these approaches have
been productively modified to archaeological research.
Lieve Donnellan is Assistant Professor of Classical Archaeology at Aarhus
University in Denmark. She specialises in the study of networks and forms
of interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean and has a keen interest in digital
methodologies and archaeological theories.
ii
Routledge Studies in Archaeology

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Metalworking Skill and Material Specialization in Early Bronze Age
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Maikel H.G. Kuijpers
Dwelling
Heidegger, Archaeology, Mortality
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New Perspectives in Cultural Resource Management
Edited by Francis P. McManamon
Cultural and Environmental Change on Rapa Nui
Edited by Sonia Haoa Cardinali, Kathleen B. Ingersoll, Daniel W. Ingersoll Jr.,
Christopher M. Stevenson
Making Sense of Monuments
Narratives of Time, Movement, and Scale
Michael J. Kolb
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A Necessary Fiction
Edited by Daniël van Helden and Robert Witcher
Cognitive Archaeology
Mind, Ethnography, and the Past in South Africa and Beyond
Edited by David S. Whitley, Johannes H.N. Loubser and Gavin Whitelaw
Archaeological Networks and Social Interaction
Edited by Lieve Donnellan
For more information on this series, please visit www.routledge.com/
Routledge­ Studies­ in­A rchaeology/ book­s eries/ RSTARCH
ii i
Archaeological Networks

and Social Interaction
Edited by Lieve Donnellan
iv
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Lieve Donnellan; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Lieve Donnellan to be identified as the author of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978­ 1­1 38­ 54520­ 5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978­ 1­3 51­ 00306­ 3 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Newgen Publishing UK
v
Contents

List of figures vii

List of tables xi

List of contributors xii

Preface xv

Acknowledgements xvii

1 Archaeological networks and social interaction 1

LIEVE DONNELLAN
2 Relational concepts and challenges to network analysis
in social archaeology 20

CARL KNAPPETT
3 Entangled identities: processes of status construction
in late Urnfield burials 38

ALINE J.E. DEICKE
4 Distributed feasts: reciprocity, hospitality and banquets
in Iron Age to Orientalising central and southern Italy 64

OWAIN MORRIS
5 Marble networks: social interaction in houses at
Pompeii 89

SIMON J. BARKER, SIMONA PERNA AND COURTNEY A. WARD
6 Objects that bind, objects that separate 116

LIEVE DONNELLAN
7 A complex beadwork: bead trade and trade beads
in Scandinavia ca. 800–1 000 AD revisited 146

SØREN M. SINDBÆK
vi
vi Contents
8 Social network analysis and the social interactions that
define Hopewell 173

MARK A. HILL, KEVIN C. NOLAN AND MARK S. SEEMAN
9 Terrestrial communication networks and political agency
in Early Iron Age Central Italy (950– 500 BCE):
a bottom­ up approach 196

FRANCESCA FULMINANTE
Index 214
vi i
Figures

2.1 Sketch of a face­ to­ face pig exchange 22
2.2 Diagram showing how terms are connected 24
2.3 Diagram showing how an appearance objectifies a relation 24
2.4 Diagram showing hierarchical nesting of relations 25
2.5 Diagram indicating how a piglet is the objectification of the
boar­ sow relation 26
2.6 Diagram in which piglet now objectifies exchange of
domestic services between man and wife 26
2.7 Diagram showing further objectification of pig in mediated
exchange relation. Previous relations are eclipsed 27
2.8 Replication of mediated exchange relations 28
2.9 Graph showing the nesting of eclipsed exchange relations 28
2.10 A network model – from phenomenon, to abstraction, to
representation 28
3.1 Elite graves analyzed in the case study 39
3.2 Metal finds from grave C of Künzing, Lkr. Deggendorf,
Lower Bavaria 41
3.3 Simplified example of intersecting identities comprising the
elite status of an individual 43
3.4 Strathernogram of a burial 45
3.5 Distribution of iron spearheads of the Urnfield and early
Hallstatt period 47
3.6 Sword from grave F of Künzing, Lkr. Deggendorf, Lower
Bavaria 48
3.7 Extended Strathernogram of the inclusion of the iron
spearhead of grave C into the burial 49
3.8 Simplified example of a two­m ode network of graves and
object types 52
3.9 One­ mode projections of two two­ mode networks, focusing
on the mode of cultural regions 54
3.10 Three­m ode network of graves, object types, and the first
layer of typological information corresponding to the objects
connecting the first two modes 57
viii
viii Lists of figures
4.1 A visualisation of Strathern’s partible person 68
4.2 Types of feasts and the reasons for holding them 71
4.3 Feasting Strathernogram 1 76
4.4 Feasting Strathernogram 2 76
4.5 Feasting Strathernogram 3 77
4.6 Feasting Strathernogram 4 77
4.7 Feasting Strathernogram 5 79
4.8 Network graph showing the network ties held between the
princely tombs in Lazio and Campania 81
5.1 Pompeii and surrounding sites 90
5.2 Distribution and list of houses used in the dataset 93
5.3 Types of pavement from Pompeii used in the dataset 94
5.4 Layout of the network for all houses with hierarchical clusters 96
5.5 Hierarchically clustered network for all houses with attribute
mappings to visual variables 97
5.6 Hierarchically clustered network for all houses with attribute
mappings to visual variables 98
5.7 The network for all houses with attribute mappings to visual
variables 98
5.8 Nodes arranged according to their geographic position 100
5.9 Network layout by Stress Minimization on Brainerd­R obinson
distance 101
5.10 Network layout by Stress Minimization on Brainerd­R obinson
distance separated by period 102
5.11 Atrium impluvium at I.09.01, House of the Beautiful
Impluvium, Pompeii 102
5.12 Layout of atrium impluvia network with hierarchical clusters 103
5.13 Hierarchically clustered network for atrium impluvia with
attribute mappings to visual variables 104
5.14 Atrium impluvia network with nodes arranged according to
their geographic position 105
5.15 Network for all houses with attribute mappings to visual
variables 106
5.16 Network layout by Stress Minimization on Brainerd­R obinson
distance for all houses 107
6.1 Map with sites mentioned in the text 119
6.2 Make­ up of the necropolis showing the development of the
necropolis through time (left) and the spatial demarcation of
family plots (right) 122
6.3 Selected drinking cups from Pithekoussai 125
6.4 Two­mode network representing the consumption of
drinking vessels 126
6.5 Selected oinochoai from Pithekoussai 129
6.6 Two­mode network representing the consumption of oinochoai 130
6.7 Selected oil containers from Pithekoussai 133
ix
Lists of figures ix
6.8 Two­mode network representing the consumption of oil
containers 135
6.9 The Nestor cup from Pithekoussai 138
7.1 Examples of Viking Age beads classified according to
Callmer’s principles 150
7.2 Basic division of Viking Age glass and stone beads according
to Callmer’s classification 151
7.3 Callmer’s (1977) graph analysis of beads associated in
Scandinavian Viking Age burials 152
7.4 The distribution of the main types of beads according to the
nine ‘Bead Periods’ 153
7.5 The geographical distribution of 302 archaeological contexts
with >10 Viking Age glass beads 156
7.6 The association of bead types and contexts in Callmer
(1977) visualized as a two­ mode network 157
7.7 The association of 382 bead types in Callmer (1977)
visualized as a one­ mode network 159
7.8 Associations between classes of beads in Callmer’s 54 bead
groups with 18 groups defined by VOS clustering 162
7.9 (a­ d) The same network as in Figure 7.7 reduced (‘shrunk’)
to Callmer’s 54 bead groups 163
7.10 The association of 296 bead assemblages in Callmer (1977)
visualized as a one­ mode network 166
7.11 The association of 296 bead assemblages in Callmer (1977)
visualized as in Figure 7.7, but with clusters defined by the
VOS algorithm with two different settings 167
7.12 Comparison between Bead Periods in Callmer (1977) and
clusters defined by the VOS algorithm in Figure 7.11b 168
8.1 Simplified models of the relationships between residential
sites (small squares) and major earthworks (circle with
square) for Scioto Valley Hopewell 175
8.2 Scales of analysis, showing the relationship between the
Middle Distance (regional) Scale and the Distant Exotics
(continental) Scale 178
8.3 All Lithics network 179
8.4 Standardized Eigenvector Centrality values by site type 181
8.5 Middle Distance Scale network, nodes sized by Eigenvector
Centrality 182
8.6 Standardized Eigenvector Centrality by site type, Middle
Scale network 183
8.7 Standardized Eigenvector Centrality by subgroup 185
8.8 Middle Scale network with a BR>100 filter applied 185
8.9 Distant Scale network, node size by Eigenvector Centrality 186
8.10 Distribution of standardized degree centrality values,
Distant Exotics Scale 188