Two approaches to map and analyse long distance networks across Afro-Eurasia, 300-800 CE

Peaches to Samarkand. Long distanceconnectivity, small worlds and socio-cultural dynamics across Afro-Eurasia, 300-800 CE: two approaches to map and analyse long distance networks

„Linking the Mediterranean“, Dec. 2014 Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, IMAFO/ABF, OEAW – RGZM

Networks in the ancient Indian Ocean – the work of Eivind Seland (University of Bergen)

Localities and ceramic types – 2mode network > 1mode network

Data from: R. Tomber, IndoRoman Trade. From Pots to Pepper. London 2008 (augmented)

2mode > 1mode networks: artefact networks in the early medieval North Sea: 152 sites, 7 artefact types (Sindbæk 2012/2013)

Possibilities and limitations of Affiliation Networks: Black Boxes The actual links are broken: at best we may know the location of the input – whence a particular item was derived – and of the output – where eventually it came to be deposited and later retrieved as an archaeological find. We are mostly ignorant as to what happened in between. (…) The modes of statistical analysis and visual representation associated with network analysis offer excellent ways of exploring and representing global properties of archaeological data. (…) they provide a way of assessing specific questions concerning the structure of the evidence, which forms a necessary precondition for (network) synthesis. (…) The patterns noted in the artefact distributions might presumably have been demonstrated without recourse to network graphs. It should be noted, however, how the graphs clarify global patterns in a way which could not have been achieved equally well with the help of tables, distribution maps, correspondence matrices or bar graphs. Simple statistical measures calculated using standard tools of network analysis highlight patterns, which could otherwise be difficult to appreciate, and thus facilitate interpretation. In this manner, network analysis and visualization prove their value as tools of validation as well as exploration. (S. Sindbæk, in: Knappett 2013, 75-89)

B. Derudder, P. J. Taylor u. a., Pathways of Change: Shifting Connectivities in the World City Network, 2000-2008. Urban Studies 47 (9) (2010) 1861-1877 (cf. also Saskia Sassen, Cities in a World Economy. Los Angeles 42012).

“networks of large professional, financial and creative service firms”

Localities and ceramic types – 2mode network > 1mode network for the Western Indian Ocean, 0-300 CE (10 ceramic types, 24 sites)

A network model of ceramic distribution in the western Indian Ocean, 0-300 CE: nodes are sized according to their „degree-centrality“ which indicates the total number and strength of links of each site. In this model, differences in degree-centrality reflect different amounts of integration within the accumulated distribution pattern of all selected artefact types.

A network model of ceramic distribution in the western Indian Ocean, 0-300 CE: nodes are sized according to their „betweenness-centrality“ which indicates the number of shortest paths between otherwise unconnected nodes a node is part of; within this model, this indicates the relative significance of a node as point of intermediation between distribution nets of different artefact types.

A network model of ceramic distribution in the western Indian Ocean, 300-600 CE (12 ceramic types, 36 sites)

A network model of ceramic distribution in the western Indian Ocean, 0-300 and 300-600 CE: a comparison of degree centrality

A network model of ceramic distribution in the western Indian Ocean, 0-300 and 300-600 CE: a comparison of betweenness centrality

The journey of the Buddhist Master Xuanzang to India (629-645 CE) and the „Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions“

Assemblages and texts as narratives: Quantitative Narrative Analysis and “Relations! Relations! Relations!” “Narrative texts are doubly relational. They depict both social relations and conceptual relations. Social actors are related to other social actors via their actions (…). Besides social relations, concepts and ideas also stand in relation to each other, with words distributed in conceptual spaces. It is one thing to be able to say which (and perhaps how often) themes, concepts, actors appear in a text and another to be able to map the network of relations that give meaning to a text (or the social world).” Roberto FRANZOSI, Quantitative Narrative Analysis. Los Angeles – London 2010, p. 52.

The linkages between 22 localities through the voyages of 55 individuals in the Vita Anskarii (9th cent.) (Søren M. Sindbæk, 2007)

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The journey of the Buddhist Master Xuanzang to India (629-645 CE) and the „Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions“: fascicle I

The journey of the Buddhist Master Xuanzang to India (629-645 CE) and the „Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions“: narrative links between localities in fascicle I

The routes network of localities in the narrative of fascicle I

The clustering of localities by political affiliation (Turkish rule in Central Asia)

The clustering of localities by Buddhist teaching (“Hinayana” school)

Clustering by cultural similarities (the cities of Central Asia)

The weighting of localities within the Buddhist network according to the number of monks

The Buddhas of Bamiyan within a web of monumental Buddhas

The web of monumental Buddhas across 7th century Central Asia

The web of monumental Buddhas within the entire spatial network of Xuanzang´s narrative

A Buddhist-Chinese mental map of 7th century Central Asia (Newman-grouping) The “Turkish” cluster – the intermediate region The “Samarqand” cluster – The “Far West”

The Chinese Heartland The “Buddhist” cluster – the Axis of Pilgrimage

Stigmergy and the search for Buddhist wisdom – from “The Life of Xuanzang” The Master of the Law having visited the celebrated Masters all round [in China], devoured their words and examined their principles; and so he found that each followed implicitly the teaching of his own school; but on verifying their doctrine he saw that the holy books differed much, so that he knew not which to follow. He then resolved to travel to the Western world in order to ask about doubtful passages. He also took the treatise called Shi-tsih-ti-lun to explain his various doubts; this treatise is now called Yu-kia-sse-ti-lun. "Moreover," he said, "Fa-hien and Chi-yen, the first men of their age, were both able to search after the Law for the guidance and profit of the people; should I not aim to preserve their noble example (traces) so that their blameless character may not be lost to posterity ? The duty of a great Teacher should be to follow in their steps." (The Life of Hiuen-tsiang by the Shaman Hwui Li, transl. by Samuel BEAL. London 1911, p. 10).

• For the full paper „Peaches to Samarkand. Long distance-connectivity, small worlds and socio-cultural dynamics across Afro-Eurasia, 300-800 CE”, see: https://www.academia.edu/9461845/Peaches _to_Samarkand._Long_distanceconnectivity_small_worlds_and_sociocultural_dynamics_across_Eurasia_300800_CE