Description

MSc dissertation concerned with the Archaeological application of network analysis, applied to a database of tablewares from the Roman East:

New and continually evolving digital technologies allow archaeologists to study ever larger volumes of information to formulate and support their interpretations of the past. A downside to this trend, however, is that the accumulation of archaeological data from different sources often leads to heterogeneous and complex datasets. Archaeologists should be aware that the data they combine results from a series of decisions taken in different stages of the object’s life cycle (e.g. initial distribution, re-use) as well as after their deposition (e.g. site selection, publication). Given the wide range of processes that lead to the creation of large and complex archaeological datasets, initial data exploration is invaluable. We believe that these processes are reflected in the relationships between archaeological data. It is our aim to develop a method for exploring these relationships, in order to understand the complexity of archaeological datasets. It is argued that network analysis can serve this purpose. To test this method, it will be applied to a large and complex database of tablewares from the Roman East. Firstly, it will be illustrated how analyzing archaeological data as networks of meaningful interactions can help to identify the general structure and local patterns in a complex dataset. Secondly, the potential of network analysis for testing a geographical hypothesis will be evaluated.