Co-presence Analysis and Economic Patterns: Mediterranean Imports in the Celtic World

Aurélia Feugnet,Fabrice Rossi,Clara Filet

doi:10.3389/fdigh.2017.00001

Abstract

This article presents one of the first steps of a project which aims at exploring the diffusion patterns of Mediterranean imported goods in Late Iron Age Europe (250 to 25 BC), and the organisation of the commercial interactions of these goods. It brings together two archaeologists and a mathematician in the study of a wide inventory of 57,735 Italian and Greek imports discovered from England to Serbia. This large amount of new and unpublished data is analysed through the joint use of network analysis tools and formal statistical methods. The analysis focuses on detecting patterns in the association of imported artefacts that are often found on the same sites. The objectives are to highlight groups of imports that may have circulated together, and to emphasise regional selections by local populations. At this stage of the study, two main systems of imports have been highlighted, used respectively in West and Central Europe. Interesting leads that will need further investigation include the imports status and the role they played in Celtic societies, as acculturated objects or more as objects for acculturation.

Highlights

The introduction of Mediterranean imports to Latenian Europe is definitely one of the most important phenomena of cross-cultural interactions during the late Iron Age
This article focuses on the diffusion and reception of Roman and Greek imports identified from southern England to Serbia dating between 250 and 25 BC
The aim is to detect groups of exogenous artifacts that are recurrently found together, because they were conjointly spread and sold, or because they corresponded to selective choice patterns operating in particular regions and sites. This analysis stands as an important step in the study of a large inventory of Mediterranean imports in Latenian Europe, which provides new elements for the understanding of the supply networks and their evolution through time and space

Summary

Introduction

The introduction of Mediterranean imports to Latenian Europe is definitely one of the most important phenomena of cross-cultural interactions during the late Iron Age. During the last three centuries BC, hundreds of thousands of goods were produced in the Italian and Greek peninsulas and spread across most of the continent to be exchanged (Picon and Ricq de Boüard, 1989). The aim is to detect groups of exogenous artifacts that are recurrently found together, because they were conjointly spread and sold, or because they corresponded to selective choice patterns operating in particular regions and sites This analysis stands as an important step in the study of a large inventory of Mediterranean imports in Latenian Europe, which provides new elements for the understanding of the supply networks and their evolution through time and space. The significance of those recurrent associations is evaluated via a specific statistical score

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Conclusion