Small-World Networks and Mediterranean Dynamics in the Euboean Gulf: An Archaeology of Complexity in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece

Knodell, Alex R.

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Year:: 2013
Contributor:: Knodell, Alex R. (creator); Cherry, John (Director); Alcock, Susan (Reader); Houston, Stephen (Reader); Papadopoulos, John (Reader); Brown University. Archaeology and the Ancient World (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Euboean Gulf; Aegean; Mediterranean; networks; interaction; complexity; Late Bronze Age; Early Iron Age; Archaeology; Complexity (Philosophy); Mediterranean Region
Extent:: xxiv, 466 p.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0GT5KHB

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Abstract:: This dissertation employs aspects of network theory to study social complexity in the Euboean Gulf from the Mycenaean Palatial period through the Protohistoric Iron Age (c. 1400-700 BCE). The Euboean Gulf and its surrounding lands were unique in the Mediterranean during this time span with respect to their social and geographical context, connectivity with the wider world, and changes in societal organization. In particular, this study focuses on the inter-relationship of conceptual, social, and technological networks on multiple scales (local, regional, and trans-Mediterranean).<br/> <br/> The first part of the dissertation (Chapters 1-4) introduces the project and discusses current disciplinary issues, its theoretical framework, and its geographical context. The second part (Chapters 5-9) provides a diachronic explication of network dynamics in the Euboean Gulf, ranging across local, regional, and trans-Mediterranean scales. These chapters provide synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of a variety of related, though seemingly divergent, social phenomena, including the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces and the eighth-century political revolution, the disappearance of Linear B and adaptation of the Greek alphabet from the Phoenician script, the technological transition from bronze to iron as the dominant utilitarian metal, and a major shift in the nature of maritime interactions – from being predominantly eastern Mediterranean phenomena to encompassing nearly all the shores of the Middle Sea.<br/> <br/> In sum, I argue first that human interactions across multiple scales feed into one another to shape the major social, political, and technological changes seen throughout the period in question, and second that networks provide a strong means of modeling and explaining these changes. In particular, the networks in which the Euboean Gulf operated increasingly exhibit characteristics of "small worlds" and "the strength of weak ties," where the addition of even a single connection into a wider system can result in the relatively rapid diffusion of political, cultural, and technological ideas. At the same time, these networks go through phases of higher and lower degrees of centrality and stability, resulting in occasional societal upheaval and restructuring in explainable (though not necessarily predictable) patterns in the dynamics of social complexity.
Notes:: Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2013)

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Knodell, Alex R., "Small-World Networks and Mediterranean Dynamics in the Euboean Gulf: An Archaeology of Complexity in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece" (2013). Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0GT5KHB

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Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Graduate Research department.
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