Networks all the way down: Clarke’s legacy for networked, multiscalar approaches to the past.

Conference: Analytical Archaeologist: the living legacies of David Clarke in contemporary scientific archaeology A meeting to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of David Clarke

Dates: 10/10/2026

Publication Date: 10/10/2026

Abstract:

In his seminal Analytical Archaeology, Clarke described human societies past and present as “a stabilised but constantly changing network of intercommunicating attributes forming a complex whole. An ensemble of attributes” (Clarke 1968, 669). Nevertheless, despite the lasting impact his work had on theory and practice in the discipline more generally, specifically network approaches per se have only really begun to be properly integrated into archaeology within the last couple of decades. Such approaches align well with Clarke’s pragmatic and open-minded approach to archaeological method and theory, allowing the integration of a range of different theoretical perspectives at different scales which together contribute to a greater understanding of the past.

The empirical, bottom-up approach entailed by network analysis means it provides an invaluable way of operationalising Clarke’s conceptualisation of archaeological cultures not as static and fixed collections of objects and practices but, as per the quote above, in terms of the societies of which they are comprised; ‘stabilised but constantly changing’ emergent clusterings or ‘ensembles of attributes’ arising from multiplex, dynamic finer-scale interactions. Case studies from SW Asia will demonstrate both how quantitative network analyses can be used to examine the evolution and change of these clusters across broad spatio-temporal scales, but also how they can be used in complementary ways at finer scales of analysis. At this level, exploration of the diversity of ‘intercommunicating attributes’ and entities enmeshed in the network allows the consideration of some of the more qualitative aspects of the social connections and interactions among specific people, places, and things that together comprise broader-scale ‘cultures’.

This talk thus aims to show how network approaches can build on Clarke’s insights re the networked nature of human lives to enable tacking between multiple scales of analysis and theoretical perspectives, thus allowing for a much fuller consideration of the lives of people in prehistory, as well as the processes driving culture change and evolution.

Clarke, D.L. 1968. Analytical Archaeology. London: Methuen.

Source: Manual