Network Analysis and Entanglement

This article explores the extent to which formal network analysis can be used to study aspects of entanglement, the latter referring to the collective sets of dependencies between humans and things. The data used were derived from the Neolithic sites of Boncuklu and Çatalhöyük in central Turkey. The first part of the analysis involves using formal network methods to chart the changing interactions between humans and things at these sites through time. The values of betweenness and centrality vary through time in ways that illuminate the known transformations at the site as, for example, domestic cattle are introduced. The ego networks for houses across four time periods at the two sites are also patterned in ways that contribute to an understanding of social and economic trends. In a second set of analyses, formal network methods are applied to intersecting operational chains, or chainworks. Finally, the dependencies between humans and things are evaluated by exploring the costs and benefits of particular material choices relative to larger entanglements. In conclusion, it is argued that three types of entanglement can be represented and explored using methods taken from the network sciences. The first type concerns the large number of relations that surround any particular human or thing. The second concerns the ways in which entanglements are organized. The third type of entanglement concerns the dialectic between dependence (potential through reliance) and dependency (constraint through reliance).     

Reflections on the Identities and Roles of the Artists in European Paleolithic Societies

In an attempt to introduce concerns with social identities into the discussion and understanding of the making of what we call Paleolithic art, this article considers issues of gender, skill, apprenticeship, and tradition. We note that, as in every period of history, Paleolithic art can be seen as embedded in the society that studies it. Over the last 20 years, the research attention given to women in Paleolithic societies has grown considerably, leading us to ask what could have been the roles of women in Paleolithic art. On what criteria could we base a determination of those roles or of other social identities that were likely part of the making and viewing of Paleolithic art?Thanks to our microscopic analysis of engravings, it is possible to identify the skill level and expertise of the artists and thus to address the question of apprenticeship and how these techniques were transmitted. We observe many similarities that allow us to group together various works of art, sometimes from very distant sites, which indicate a movement of ideas, objects, and people. Are we talking about “imitation”? How can we define an “invention” within a social context strongly bound by traditions?     

“Seek and you Shall Find.” How the Analysis of Gendered Patterns in Archaeology can Create False Binaries: a Case Study from Durankulak

The gender structures of the communities of the Late Neolithic and Copper Age in South East Europe have been firmly placed in a binary system by past archaeological analysis. The analysis of cemetery remains has indicated that binaries are expressed through differences in body position and the types of artefacts placed in the grave. However, re-evaluation of evidence from Durankulak cemetery on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast demonstrates that such interpretations may result from the imposition of a modern Western understanding of gender as binary based on sex; these assumptions can lead to the exclusion of data which points to more complex and varied gender relationships. This paper briefly discusses the problems in starting archaeological analyses from an assumed binary in both sex and gender. It is argued that any approach that starts with this binary is likely to be misleading, and that large-scale data sets, such as cemeteries, should be investigated using multivariate statistical techniques to uncover a variety of horizontal and vertical social categories and roles, of which gender may be a part. It demonstrates that in the case of Durankulak, while there are gender differences, there was a great deal of more complexity than a simple male/female division. Some artefacts are exclusively associated with male burials, while female graves have less variety in their assemblages.     

Terrestrial and maritime taphonomy: differential effects on spatial distribution of a Late Pleistocene continental drowned faunal bone assemblage from the Pacific coast of Chile

Site GNL Quintero 1 (GNLQ1), located on the central coast of Chile, is the only documented Late Pleistocene drowned terrestrial site along the Pacific Coast of South America. Faunal evidence at the site is varied, and so far, remains of the following taxa have been found: extinct Camelidae, Cervidae, Equidae, Mylodontidae, Xenarthra, but also Myocastoridae, Canidae and Octodontidae. Both geological and paleoenvironmental data indicate that GNLQ1 developed in a floodplain or low-energy environment during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Prior to the post-glacial rising of the sea level, the site would have been located several kilometres inland as the paleoshoreline was farther out on the continental shelf. In accordance with this background, the present study addresses the analysis of the spatial distribution of the bone deposits of GNLQ1 by considering both scenarios, the terrestrial phase related to the formation and modification of the fossil assemblage prior to the transgression, and the marine phase, subsequent to inundation. Results indicate modifications related to low-energy flow environment and carnivore activity dominated during the terrestrial phase and the action of marine organisms during the marine phase. Other taphonomic modifications are not easily attributable to either one or the other environmental context.     

HIGH-TECHNOLOGY JOBS AND WORKER MOBILITY*

ABSTRACT. The premise of this paper is that one can discover much about the location determinants of high-technology industry by examining the location (migration) decision of workers with high-technology occupations. A model of the high-technology worker migration decision is developed that permits estimation of worker response to both personal and area characteristics, the latter chosen to mirror location factors often cited by high-technology firms as important for both the attraction and retention of their specialized work force. Logit estimates of this model between 1975 and 1980 are presented. The paper is concluded with a discussion of policy implications.