Workshop Programme

Introduction to Archaeological network research

Dates: 30th-31st August 2022

Venue: Πολιτιστικό – ΣυνεδριακόΚέντροΗρακλείου / Cultural Conference Center of Heraklion – https://www.cccc.gr/en

Lecturers:

  • Tom Brughmans
  • Anna Collar
  • Fiona Coward
  • Tim Evans
  • Carl Knappett

This workshop aims to offer participants:

  • an introduction to network research, and how it has been applied in the Archaeology;
  • practical computational training in network research in archaeology;
  • a critical perspective of theoretical considerations and challenges in network research;
  • the ability to critically evaluate existing network research, and to independently perform network research in their own studies.

Overview:

Network research refers to the use of network data (nodes and links) to visualize and explore archaeological sources, or to represent relational theories about past phenomena. The approach is now firmly established in archaeology, with an increasing number of case studies published each year. But dedicated training in this technical archaeological specialism is very rare.

This workshop offers an overview of archaeological network research, what makes the approach different, and how to apply it in practice. It combines lectures by practitioners that illustrate the advantages and challenges of the approach in a relatable way, with computational tutorials that develop the technical skills needed to perform network research independently. Participants will learn how to prepare their archaeological sources for computational network studies. How do you import, visualize and analyse archaeological and historical networks? How do you critically interpret the results of these computational analyses? Three software packages will be taught (The Vistorian, Visone and Ariadne), allowing participants to compare the features present in each.

Requirements:

  • No prior computational network science skills needed
  • Bring your own laptop
  • Have Visone installed in advance http://visone.ethz.ch/
  • You will be asked to access the internet during the workshop

ΠΡΟΓΡΑΜΜΑ ΕΡΓΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΥ / WORKSHOP PROGRAMME

ΤΡΙΤΗ 30 ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΟΥ / TUESDAY 30 AUGUST 2022

12:00-14:00: an introduction to network science in archaeology and history. Key concepts, methods, and history of research (Tom Brughmans).

14-14:30: Διάλειμμα / coffee break.

14:30-15:30: The Vistorian tutorial: import network data, visualization, exploration (Tom Brughmans).

15:30-16:30: Applied examples of network research: personal experiences, advantages, pitfalls

  • Lecture by Anna Collar
  • Lecture by Fiona Coward

ΤΕΤΑΡΤΗ 31 ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΟΥ / WEDNESDAY 31 AUGUST 2022

10:00-12:00: exploratory network analysis with Visone. Import archaeological data as network, network visualisation, network analysis (Tom Brughmans)

12:00-13:00 Διάλειμμα / Lunch break

13:00-14:30: Tutorial by Tim Evans.

14:30-15:00: Διάλειμμα / coffee break

15:00-16:00: Applied examples of network research: personal experiences, advantages, pitfalls

  • Lecture by Carl Knappett