'Bandkeramik' stone tool production and social network analysis: a case study

Abstract

Social Network Analysis is a powerful tool to describe underlying social structures in exchange networks. Developed in the social sciences to quantitatively analyse relational data, Social Network Analysis has been largely overlooked by archaeologists as an opportunity to interpret their data (Bollig 2000; Cla�en 2004; Hunt 1988; Reepmeyer 2002). In this paper, the application of social network analysis to the system of stone tool production of the first Neolithic culture in central Europe, the Linear Bandkeramik culture, will be discussed. The aim is to test previous models of settlement structure and to develop new interpretations of the organisation of stone tool exchange.