A network of designs

Studying Early Lapita exchange networks in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea through Social Network Analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID6038997
AuthorsNicholas W S Hogg (0000-0003-2812-8834, Institute of History and Philology Academia Sinica Taipei Taiwan, corresponding author), Scarlett Chiu (Institute of History and Philology Academia Sinica Taipei Taiwan), P V Kirch (0000-0003-4264-6689, Department of Anthropology University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Honolulu USA), Glenn Summerhayes (0000-0002-0654-1305, Archaeology Program University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand), Glenn R Summerhayes
Year2024
Volume59
Issue2
Pages314-332
Publication date2024-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArchaeology in Oceania/Archæology & physical anthropology in Oceania (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0728-4896 • E-ISSN: 1834-4453
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/arco.5322
OpenAlexW4396975750
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited67

The application of Social Network Analysis to the study of archaeological networks has become increasingly common around the world, with a proven track record of processing large, complex, spatial and temporal archaeological datasets. This study builds upon previous network‐based analyses of interaction between communities of the Lapita Cultural Complex, with a specific focus on the Early Period (c.3300/3200–3100 calBP) in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Employing motif inventories from 13 Early Lapita Period assemblages, motif similarity and Centrality Analysis are undertaken, with the results compared to data from portable material culture, particularly obsidian and pottery, to further define the networks of interaction that linked communities during this period. We conclude that motif similarities and Centrality Analysis scores show good agreement with patterns of interactions established from the analysis of other types of portable material culture, which together support the existence of northern west to east and southern obsidian distribution networks, comprised of communities that employed unique types of interaction tailored towards their own cultural and societal circumstances and needs. Finally, we further conclude that these two networks may have arisen during the initial formation of the Lapita Cultural Complex, as populations established new social connections with other settler communities and incumbent populations across the region to survive in a new and foreign environment

Archaeology · Archipelago · Centrality · China · Economic geography · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Motif (music · Network analysis · New guinea · Period (music · Pottery · Social complexity · Social network analysis · Sociology · World Wide Web · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Computer Science · Engineering · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Tools

Open DOI