Perforated Disks as Indicators of Magdalenian Social Networks

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During the Middle and Upper Magdalenian (ca. 18,000 to 14,000 cal BP), people across western and central Europe created and circulated perforated disks made largely of bone and stone. Averaging ca. 4 centimeters in diameter, the disks were one of many portable decorated items produced during the Magdalenian in the context of rapid population expansions and migrations. The diversity in materials, motifs, and chrono-spatial distributions of the disks suggest changes in the types and patterns of social connections among hunter-forager groups as they navigated post-glacial physical and social landscapes. To test hypotheses about how Magdalenian peoples used material culture to construct and maintain social networks, we derive indices of disk motif similarity using categorical, image analysis, and perceptual salience approaches. We then use these similarity indices as input for formal network analysis to identify clusters of similarly decorated disks and track whether those clusters coincide with geographical proximity and/or climatic zones. We find that Magdalenian peoples actively used perforated disks to signal social similarities and bonds well outside the geographical distances and topographical areas that would be expected by a “safety net” model of human interactions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52600