Testing complex networks of interaction at the onset of the Near Eastern Neolithic using modelling of obsidian exchange.

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we explore the conditions that led to the origins and development of the Near Eastern Neolithic using mathematical modelling of obsidian exchange. The analysis presented expands on previous research, which established that the down-the-line model could not explain long-distance obsidian distribution across the Near East during this period. Drawing from outcomes of new simulations and their comparison with archaeological data, we provide results that illuminate the presence of complex networks of interaction among the earliest farming societies. We explore a network prototype of obsidian exchange with distant links which replicates the long-distance movement of ideas, goods and people during the Early Neolithic. Our results support the idea that during the first (Pre-Pottery

SUBMITTER: Ibanez JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4590507 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature