Comparing network construction techniques in the context of local transport networks in the Dutch part of the Roman limes

Groenhuijzen, Mark R.; Verhagen, Philip

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.07.024

Cited by 17 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For other more complex possibilities, specific solutions should be devised, while in the extreme event of a completely unknown road map, the total amount of connection length has to be determined by means of heuristic arguments. From a different perspective, in their recent work, Groenhuijzen and Verhagen (Groenhuijzen and Verhagen, 2017) applied several network models -among them, a slightly modified version of our EE model -to the case of a TTI about which nothing was known, neither the underlying mechanisms, nor any of the paths that were part of it. The only available information was the purpose of the TTI and the authors proposed to exploit this knowledge to determine which model produces the most plausible networks.…”

Section: Other Uses Of the Ee Model: Inverse Engineering To Infer Unkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling terrestrial route networks to understand inter-polity interactions (southern Etruria, 950-500 BC)

Prignano

Morer

Fulminante

et al. 2019

Journal of Archaeological Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ancient regional routes were vital for interactions between settlements and deeply influenced the development of past societies and their "complexification". At the same time, since any transportation infrastructure needs some level of inter-settlement cooperation to be established, they can also be regarded as an epiphenomenon of social interactions at the regional scale. Here, we propose to analyze ancient pathway networks to understand the organization of cities and villages located in a certain territory, attempting to clarify whether such organization existed and if so, how it functioned.To address such a question, we chose a quantitative approach. Adopting network science as a general framework, by means of formal models, we try to identify how the collective effort that produced the terrestrial infrastructure was directed and organized. We selected a paradigmatic case study: Iron Age southern Etruria, a very well-studied context, with detailed archaeological information about settlement patterns and an established tradition of studies on terrestrial transportation routes, perfectly suitable for testing new techniques. The results of the modelling suggest that a balanced coordinated decision-making process was shaping the route network in Etruria, a scenario which correlates well with the picture elaborated by different scholars using a more traditional technique.

show abstract

Section: Other Uses Of the Ee Model: Inverse Engineering To Infer Unkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling terrestrial route networks to understand inter-polity interactions (southern Etruria, 950-500 BC)

Prignano

Morer

Fulminante

et al. 2019

Journal of Archaeological Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Path modelling routines in GIS are not very efficient for network (re)construction since they do not allow for simultaneously connecting multiple nodes on the basis of standardized criteria. Commonly used and effective network construction techniques limit the number of allowed connections on the basis of distance and/or the number of closest neighbours (see Gorenflo and Bell 1991;Jiménez Badillo 2004;Rivers et al 2013;Groenhuijzen and Verhagen 2017;Fulminante et al 2017). This limitation is necessary in order to prevent the creation of spurious connections, since direct links from everywhere to everywhere are not realistic.…”

Section: Network (Re)construction Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So-called Steiner points (extra nodes to be used as junctions) can be inserted in order to optimize the connectivity of the whole network, but applying this principle to cost surfaces is very challenging (Frommer and Golden 2007;Verhagen et al 2014). Sensitivity analysis and validation of the resulting networks would therefore seem an important issue, but best practices for assessing the realism of (re)constructed networks are still largely lacking (Knappett 2013b;Groenhuijzen and Verhagen 2017).…”

Section: Network (Re)construction Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even while chronological uncertainty and incompleteness of datasets will always be part archaeological research practice, sensitivity analysis therefore needs to become part of the standard methodology for pathway and network modelling in order to assess the quality of the presented models (see Bevan and Wilson 2013;Groenhuijzen and Verhagen 2017).…”

Section: Validation Of Pathway Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Modelling of Pathways and Movement Networks in Archaeology: An Overview of Current Approaches

Verhagen

Nuninger

Groenhuijzen

2019

Computational Social Sciences

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This chapter presents and discusses current approaches and trends in computer-based modelling of pathways and movement networks in archaeology. After an introduction to the theoretical concepts involved, we present a state of the art of methodologies applied for reconstructing pathways and movement in ancient landscapes and discuss the various difficulties in using these methods as well as the most important technical hurdles involved. The problems of integrating optimal pathfinding algorithms with 'softer' socio-cultural variables are highlighted, as well as the limitations of modelling connections between places using least-cost path techniques. Network analysis reconstruction and analysis approaches are then reviewed as tools to better understand the overall structure of movement and communication in ancient landscapes. It is concluded that, while the potential of current approaches for understanding ancient movement is considerable, improvement is still needed in three main areas: the integration of approaches, sensitivity analysis and validation, and the theoretical underpinning of models of ancient movement.

show abstract

“…Other models have focused on estimating settlement boundaries, e.g., with the XTENT model (Ducke and Kroefges, 2008), or explored the exploitation of ancient territories (Farinetti, 2009). Fruitful modeling has been applied to inter-visibility (Brughmans and Brandes, 2017) and the reconstruction of ancient transportation networks (Groenhuijzen and Verhagen, 2017).…”

Section: Modeling Ancient Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the Rise of the City: Early Urban Networks in Southern Italy

Donnellan

2019

Front. Digit. Humanit.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The rise of the state in Ancient Italy went hand in hand with an increase in infrastructural power, i.e., settlement centralization and urbanization. The paper discusses theoretical challenges and introduces a modeling approach to a case study, one of the earliest cities in Southern Italy, Pontecagnano, with the aim of understanding the community dynamics at the time of the earliest urbanization (ca. 900-600 BC). The model is a two-mode model that derives from social network analysis, an approach that has been fruitfully adapted to archaeological research. The model is applied to detect trends in burial contexts from the community involved. Burial was, at that time, in the region, a key instrument in the creation of memory and display of status and thus for building and consolidating state power. The analytical network model is able to detect the dynamics in the community over time very well: network Cohesion is expanding and contracting, and points to the existence of tension and a tight control of funerary behavior. The study of Centrality of selected nodes provides a good understanding of the strategies in terms of the circulation of key resources. The latter is particularly significant for studying urbanization because the appropriation of resources was not possible without centralization and the development of infrastructure, as well as an ideology. Based on the study of selected resources, it is suggested that an increase in crop storage has played a particular role in the development of state power and the urbanization process at Pontecagnano. In due course, the paper also addresses methodological challenges of working with fragmented datasets when applying models to study the past.

show abstract

Comparing network construction techniques in the context of local transport networks in the Dutch part of the Roman limes

Cited by 17 publications

References 10 publications

Modelling terrestrial route networks to understand inter-polity interactions (southern Etruria, 950-500 BC)

Modelling terrestrial route networks to understand inter-polity interactions (southern Etruria, 950-500 BC)

Modelling of Pathways and Movement Networks in Archaeology: An Overview of Current Approaches

Modeling the Rise of the City: Early Urban Networks in Southern Italy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About