331 research outputs found
Unravelling the threads of connectivity: A mutual information approach to tracing material networks in the late hellenistic and early roman mediterranean
No full textThe study of connectivity and interaction in the Mediterranean world is a rich and vibrant topic. While most direct attestations of past interaction have been lost, we can use the ubiquity of material markers such as ceramic tablewares to trace the structures and underlying drivers of past networks. In this paper, we use an innovative combination of least cost path analysis and mutual information to explore the relative contributions of geographical proximity and potential social, economic, and political factors underlying the distributions of material culture. We apply this method to a case study using the ICRATES dataset of tablewares from the eastern Mediterranean in late Hellenistic and early Roman times (150 BCE - 50 CE). By exploring the multifaceted factors shaping these distributions, we enrich our understanding of ancient economies and trade networks, as well as provide further insight into broader questions of (cultural) exchange and power dynamics in the ancient world. Through this novel approach, we hope to pave the way for future research endeavours that seek to unravel the intricate threads of connectivity shaping past and present human societies.The research for this paper conducted by DK was funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (3H180694). Parts of the research conducted by DD took place at conferences where his presence was funded by the Research Foundation Flanders WOG Funding (W001220N3H200066). DD was supported in his research through his positions at Middle East Technical University, KU Leuven, and VU Amsterdam. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. We thank dr. Ben Marwick for his suggestions to improve the reproducibility of the paper
Replication Data for: SAGAscape: Simulating Resource Exploitation Strategies in Iron Age to Hellenistic Communities in Southwest Anatolia
No full textThis dataset contains the files pertaining to the most recent version of the SAGAscape model and the analysis of its results as they appear in publication. SAGAscape is an agent-based model of resource exploitation during the late Iron Age to Hellenistic period for the study area of Sagalassos, Turkey. Settlements known from survey or excavation source food, wood and clay in a realistic GIS-based environment. For this, they simultaneously take resource availability, accessibility and labor availability into account. Soil fertility and forest standing stock regenerate over time, leading to patterns of land use in time and space. SAGAscape is written in NetLogo; its output is analysed in R
The Effects of Time-Averaging on Archaeological Networks
No full textsponsorship: Academische Stichting Leuven, KU Leuven - C1|C14/17/025, Research Foundation (Flanders)|G088319Nstatus: Published onlin
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Reframing Comparative Perspectives on Long-Term Change: A Review of Social Complexity and Complex Systems in Archaeology by Dries Daems (Routledge, 2021)
Get PDFA review of Social Complexity and Complex Systems in Archaeology by Dries Daems (Routledge, 2021
Towards adualism: becoming and nihilism in Nietzsche's philosophy
Get PDFThis chapter argues that Nietzsche held two doctrines of becoming: one more radical, which he requires to fend off nihilism, and one much more moderate—the ontology of relations he develops under the label ‘will to power’. Based on the latter he develops what the author call his ‘adualistic’—neither monistic nor dualistic—practice of thought, a ‘simultaneity-thinking’ (Zugleich-Denken) that is no longer subject to nihilism. For Nietzsche’s belief in the reality of the threat of nihilism to be intelligible, the author attributes to Nietzsche at least three assumptions that underpin his entire project: (1) ‘what there is, is becoming (and not being)’, (2) ‘most (if not all) strongly believe in being’, and (3) nihilism is a function of the belief in being
Nietzsche’s critique of staticism: Introduction to Nietzsche on time and history
Get PDFWhy are we still intrigued by Nietzsche? What the author argues in this chapter is that this sustained interest stems from Nietzsche’s challenge to what we might call the ‘staticism’ inherent in our ordinary experience. ‘Staticism’ can be defined, roughly speaking, as the view that the world is a collection of enduring, re-identifiable objects that change only very gradually and according to determinate laws. This article claims that as long as human beings subscribe to the ‘staticist picture’ Nietzsche will remain of interest. First, the chapter discusses Nietzsche’s rejection of the remnants of staticism in Hegel and Schopenhauer (both of whom, he holds, remain fundamentally opposed to taking time and history seriously). Second, it briefly outlines why Nietzsche deems the belief in any variant of the staticist picture as problematic. Finally, it examines Nietzsche’s adualistic-dialetheic stance towards the staticist worldview
Building communities. Presenting a model of community formation and organizational complexity in southwestern Anatolia
Get PDFIn this paper, a model of community formation and organizational complexity is presented, focusing on the fundamental role of social interactions and information transmission for the development of complex social organisation. The model combines several approaches in complex systems thinking which has garnered increasing attention in archaeology. It is then outlined how this conceptual model can be applied in archaeology. In the absence of direct observations of constituent social interactions, archaeologists study the past through material remnants found in the archaeological record. People used their material surroundings to shape, structure and guide social interactions and practices in various ways. The presented framework shows how dynamics of social organisation and community formation can be inferred from these material remains. The model is applied on a case study of two communities, Sagalassos and Düzen Tepe, located in southwestern Anatolia during late Achaemenid to middle Hellenistic times (fifth to second centuries BCE). It is suggested that constituent interactions and practices can be linked to the markedly different forms of organizational structures and material surroundings attested in both communities. The case study illustrates how the presented model can help understand trajectories of socio-political structures and organizational complexity on a community level.sponsorship: The research for this paper was funded through a fellowship by the Research Foundation Flanders, and has further been supported by the Belgian Programme on Interuniversity Poles of Attraction, the Research Fund of the University of Leuven, and the Academic Foundation Leuven. The author has been part of the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project, originally directed by Marc Waelkens and since 2014 under directorship of Jeroen Poblome (both KU Leuven). The author wishes to thank Bas Beaujean for his help with some of the figures, Kim Vyncke and Hannelore Vanhaverbeke, who coordinated the excavations at the site of Diizen Tepe, and Peter Talloen who coordinated the excavations at the Upper Agora of Sagalassos. Gratitude is also due to Jeroen Poblome, John Bintliff, Sander van der Leeuw, Philip Van Peer, Christopher Ratte, and Katelijn Vandorpe for their comments and feedback on earlier versions of this text. (Research Foundation Flanders, Belgian Programme on Interuniversity Poles of Attraction, University of Leuven, Academic Foundation Leuven)status: Publishe
Tom Brughmans en Andrew Wilson (eds.), Simulating Roman Economies. Theories, Methods, and Computational Models (Oxford University Press; Oxford, 2022) 368 p. ill., £90.00 ISBN 9780192857828
No full textSocial Complexity and Complexity Economics: Studying Socio-economic Systems at Düzen Tepe and Sagalassos (SW Turkey)
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