IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/tjomxx/v18y2022i4p674-685.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The use of prehistoric ‘big data’ for mapping early human cultural networks

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Sommer
  • Andrew W. Kandel
  • Volker Hochschild

Abstract

The archaeological record is one piece of the puzzle in understanding the evolution of humans, helping to trace the cultural connections between different species and their technologies, as well as their expansion in time and space. Here we demonstrate a method for mapping the boundaries, centers, and peripheries of ancient cultures, as well as the technological similarities between different cultures. The proposed workflow includes: a systematic collection of archaeological information in a database; a process to infer the similarities between assemblages and generate a network; and finally, a graphical method for big data visualization, a technique also used in social media analysis. We present the geography of multiple cultural complexes that span several stages of cultural evolution from the Lower to the Upper Paleolithic (Stone Age) and involve several species of the genus Homo. Finally, we discuss some alternative trajectories in which this workflow can be developed further.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Sommer & Andrew W. Kandel & Volker Hochschild, 2022. "The use of prehistoric ‘big data’ for mapping early human cultural networks," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 674-685, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:tjomxx:v:18:y:2022:i:4:p:674-685
    DOI: 10.1080/17445647.2022.2118628
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17445647.2022.2118628
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/17445647.2022.2118628?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:tjomxx:v:18:y:2022:i:4:p:674-685. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/tjom20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.