Local Actions and Long-Distance Interactions: Challenging the Paradigm for the Emergence of Social Complexity on Cyprus during the Bronze Age

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Mediterranean Archaeology: Connections, Interactions, Objects, and Theory" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Complex social networks or social complexity emerges from the actions and interactions of people as they pass information, goods and services. During the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean, particularly on the island of Cyprus, it has been hypothesized that two actions and interactions are particularly important for this process: differential access to metal resources and participation in international trade. This paper explores the role of local actions and far reaching interactions in the emergence of social complexity on Cyprus during the nascent sub-periods of the Bronze Age (2400-1700 cal BC), and the effect of cross-scale interactions on this process. Proxy data for these actions obtained from mortuary contexts is statistically analyzed at the community, region and island-wide scales to determine the distribution of access to metal resources and level of participation in international trade, and the hypothetical network configuration that best describe the social system. When complex social networks like small world or scale free configurations are approximated, differential access and participation are apparent and social complexity is emergent. The results of this research do not support the long-standing models that link metal consumption and long-distance trade to the emergence of social complexity during the Bronze Age on Cyprus.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Mediterranean Archaeology: Connections, Interactions, Objects, and Theory

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25268