A Veritable Smorgasbord of Archaeological Network Books

By Mark Golitko, Associate Editor for Lithic Studies and Network Analysis

This is a big time for network science and relational thinking in archaeology (at least if you like to read

—if not, you might want to skip the rest of this post), with three major books published or due to be published by year’s end. Among these is Network Science in Archaeology (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/network-science-in- archaeology/842306360FBC7A114E207E2955FD3372) by Tom Brughmans and Matt Peeples. This book is part of the Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology series, and represents the first book length treatment of network science as applied to archaeology, focusing on the details of how to collect data and conduct network analysis using said data. Given the rapid growth in this field in the last fifteen years or so, such a volume is overdue at this point. Most books dealing with network analysis and archaeology have been edited volumes with individual case studies. The only book length treatment that I am aware of is Carl Knappett’s An Archaeology of Interaction (2011, Oxford University Press), which is now more than a decade old, and while highly influential, was much more of a conceptual rather than methodological treatment. For anyone that has tried or plans to teach network analysis in the context of archaeology, this book will be a welcome addition—in my own experience, I have had to rely on a combination of articles and books largely targeted towards sociologists. Peeples and Brughmans are probably already familiar to anyone who has even dabbled in archaeological network research, and as a citation network analysis in their book shows, are among the most “central” practitioners of network science in archaeology. They are certainly the ones to write a book like this. 

The book includes eight substantive chapters—the first two review the basics of network analysis and the history of network analysis in archaeology, as well as laying out basic strategies for incorporating network analysis into archaeological problem oriented research. The third chapter examines how to compile archaeological data for use in network analysis, and introduces examples drawn from the author’s own work—for instance, the SW Social Networks project that Peeples is most associated with, and work on Roman period transport and visibility networks that Brughmans has worked on. The authors employ these examples to illustrate concepts and methods throughout the book. Chapters 4-7 are oriented towards the practical application of network methods. Chapter 4 reviews basic network metrics (centrality, density, and so forth) as applied to exploratory analysis of archaeological data. Chapter 5 deals with how to address uncertainty and incomplete data in network analysis. Chapter 6 explores different methods of network visualization, while chapter 7 deals specifically with analysis of networks in real geographic space. The final chapter examines how network theory and archaeological theory can work together, as well as exploring future directions for network analysis in archaeology. The book also contains a glossary of basic terms, a section detailing commonly employed network analysis software, as well as answers to the study questions provided at the end of each chapter. There is also a link to online R code used in the analyses presented in the book. This online supplement may be one of the most useful elements of the book for those that are already versed in the basics of network analysis.

I hesitate to review my own work, but should also note the publication earlier this year of Modeling the Past: Archaeology, History, and Dynamic Networks (Berghahn Books, New York, https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/TerrellModeling), a book I co-authored with John Edward Terrell, Helen Dawson, and Marc Kissel. Rather than a “methods” primer, the book is an exploration of how to develop strategies for relational thinking in research design in order to construct archaeological models. The book is also intended for students of archaeology but may be useful for more advanced practitioners as well. While SNA features as a method for doing this, it is not the central focus of the book, which examines how to build plausible hypotheses about the past and use archaeological data (and other kinds of data) to decide which models are worth further exploration, and which should themselves be consigned to the past.

In October, the Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Network Research, edited by Brughmans, Barbara Mills, Jessica Munson and Peeples (Oxford University Press, Oxford, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of- archaeological-network-research-9780198854265?cc=us&lang=en&) is due to hit shelves (perhaps mostly virtual ones). The volume has 42 chapters that detail different issues in network application and interpretation. My own chapter (“Geochemical Networks”) explores how sourced archaeological materials can be used in network analysis, drawing on the work I have done with colleagues in Mesoamerica (the main reason why I occupy my joint lithics-networks editorial role here on the SAS Bulletin!). As with any of the multitude of books in the Oxford Handbook line, the chapters are intended to both review significant issues, but also offer up reflections on the state of play in the particular field covered in each volume. I will offer up more on this volume here once it has been published and I have been able to peruse it in more detail.