New approaches to Archaic Greek settlement structure

• Main Authors: Raymond J. Rivers, Timothy S. Evans
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme 2014-03-01
• Series: Les Nouvelles de l’Archéologie
• Subjects: ariadne; city state; cost-benefit model; Grece
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/nda/2316
• ISSN: 0242-7702; 2425-1941

Recent developments in network theory have led to the creation of new models to describe spatial and social interaction and a reappraisal of existing models. Although designed with contemporary society in mind they are increasingly used by archaeologists to help explain the archaeological record. This leads to the problem that, with such a large range of models available it is likely that, if we hunt hard enough, we can find a model to justify whatever preconceptions we may have. In this paper we address this issue by re-examining the onset of centralisation in mainland Greek city states of the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. Pioneering work on this settlement structure was performed in 1987 by Rihll and Wilson, adapting a 'retail' model devised originally for 20th century urban planning. We highlight the problems of modelling archaeological data by contrasting this model to a recent cost-benefit model termed ariadne, developed by ourselves, and other simpler models. In particular, we examine what constitutes model 'robustness' and the way in which different models handle 'contingency' when describing periods of rapid change. In no way can we get what we want.