Obsidian Procurement and Exchange in Peru: A Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Summary

Wider accessibility to analytical instruments has resulted in the rapid expansion of geochemical datasets useful to trace archaeological materials such as obsidian to their geologic source. While these findings are useful on a site-to-site basis, this paper utilizes Social Network Analysis (SNA) as an exploratory tool to investigate broad-scale patterns of obsidian procurement and exchange in prehistoric Peru. Alongside visualizations of this large dataset, centrality measurements allow us to identify key nodes in likely exchange networks, instigating new questions on prehistoric economies and inter-regional connections. The resulting analysis provides a diachronic comparison of obsidian use in the Central Andes with consideration to varying geographic and political scales that include the domestication of camelids, the development of urban and temple centers, and the first state-level economies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21758