A Scale-Free Approach to Sociopolitical Development in Late-Prehistoric Tyrrhenian Central Italy

Between the 12^th and 7^thcenturies BCE, Tyrrhenian central Italy underwent profound sociopolitical transformations, culminating in the emergence of cities and states. Reconstructions of these developments commonly assume that they were connected to competition over scarce resources, such as metals and exotica; as a result, communities tend to be characterized as more or less complex and dynamic based on their centrality within dimensions of exchange tied to such resources.

This paper presents the results of a project designed to reevaluate these processes in the case of southern Etruria ('dynamic') and Latium ('static') by 1) reconstructing various possible dimensions of interaction on the basis of a broad range of evidence, from isotopic indicators of mobility to distribution data for common household objects; 2) systematically evaluating the plausibility of reconstructed networks in terms of connectivity properties associated with real-world complex networks; and 3) tracing the development of viable networks in relation to independent lines of evidence for sociopolitical development.

Preliminary results indicate that sociopolitical boundaries within the research area were permeable, casting doubt on the notion of differential development within a single dimension of complexity. These results could contribute historical depth to charged debates concerning European regionalism, integration, and community openness, among others. Methodologically, the project may be of interest to researchers regardless of chronological or regional focus. In particular, I coded a program that employs several recently developed algorithms for the detection of subsets of interaction and traces their relative cohesiveness and structural resilience in the face of independently documented stressors.