Networks of Networks: a critical review of formal network methods in archaeology through citation network analysis and close reading
Tom Brughmans, Archaeological Computing Research Group, University of Southampton
Tuesday 14 February, 6.15pm, Anatomy Museum. Followed by drinks
Methods and theories seem to fade in and out of fashion constantly. Some are lucky enough to find a large audience thanks to the efforts of pioneering adopters whilst others are doomed to be forgotten despite of the zealous efforts of their proponents. But how does a new idea emerge in a discipline, where did it originate and how does it evolve in a new research context? The archaeological use of formal network methods which has only recently become more popular forms a particularly suitable case to explore such academic processes. This paper will for the first time trace the academic traditions, network concepts, models and techniques that have been most influential to archaeologists. I will do this by combining a close reading of published archaeological network applications with citation network analysis techniques (Batagelj 2003; Hummon and Doreian 1989; White 2011), an approach that has not been applied to archaeological literature before.
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About the speaker
Tom Brughmans is an archaeologist specialising in digital technologies. He received his undergraduate and Master degrees in Archaeology from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) in 2007 and 2008 respectively. In 2009 Tom obtained a Master in Science in ‘Archaeological Computing: Spatial Technologies’ from the University of Southampton. For a year after that he worked as a research assistant at the Archaeological Computing Research Group. Here Tom was involved in several archaeological projects including the Portus project and the ‘Urban connectivity in Iron Age and Roman southern Spain’ project. In addition, Tom worked as a research assistant for the ICRATES project at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Tom is currently doing a PhD in Archaeology at the University of Southampton as a member of the Archaeological Computing Research Group. His research aims to explore the potential of a complex networks research perspective for the archaeological discipline through case-studies on amphora production in Roman southern Spain, Roman Ostia and Portus, table ware distribution in the Roman eastern Mediterranean and Roman Sagalassos.