Modelling land and water based movement corridors in the Western Mediterranean

A Least Cost Path Analysis From Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Ivory Records

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5256167
AutoresGiacomo Bilotti (0000-0002-7328-0811, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel), Marcelle Kempf (0000-0002-9474-4670, University of Basel), Jose Miguel Morillo Leon (0000-0003-1150-3757, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel)
Año2024
Volumen16
Número8
Fecha de publicación2024-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaArchaeological and Anthropological Sciences (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1866-9557 • E-ISSN: 1866-9565
EditorialSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12520-024-02029-x
OpenAlexW4400848298
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas87

The transportation of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age ivory raw materials and artefacts across the Mediterranean has been in the focus of archaeological research for over a century now. However, tracing the flow of ivory has mostly been restricted to traditional theoretical models of raw materials distribution deriving from socio-culturally centred considerations. Environmental conditions, potential transportation networks and dissemination routes have not yet been considered decisive for the spread of ivory raw material from the African shores and the eastern Mediterranean towards the Iberian Peninsula. Implementing computational environmental and archaeological modelling, we present a fully reproducible quantitative approach to estimate potential communication and transportation networks based on environmental covariates. We deploy a Network Analysis model and a predictive model based on Least Cost Path density to propose a potential land- and sea-based movement corridor for the western Mediterranean Basin that could have enabled the cultural spread of resources during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. Using the presented model and the open-source data underlying the analyses, distribution patterns of multiple material resources from different chronological subsets or regions can be developed, which will contribute to understanding prehistoric human patterns across the Mediterranean

Archaeology · Bronze Age · Chalcolithic · Civil engineering · Geography · Land use · Mediterranean climate · Mediterranean sea · Prehistory · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Engineering · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology