Networks and Sociopolitical Organization

Abstract

Abstract Archaeological network analysis provides a set of robust methodological tools to describe and evaluate sociopolitical histories. Network analyses allow archaeologists to move from the bottom up, to critically engage with traditional models of sociopolitical organization commonly deployed in archaeological interpretation. The use of network analyses rooted in large-scale, robust datasets allows for the identification of organizational characteristics that may be masked or unaccounted for by a reliance on essentialized sociopolitical types derived from the ethnological record. This chapter outlines the methodological principles and conceptual frameworks made available through the use of archaeological network analysis in characterizing and evaluating the underlying organizational structures that connect members of a society to one another. Instead of focusing on sociopolitical types, a framework is presented that places the primacy of investigations on particular patterns of relationships between social and political actors and entities.