Theme:
5. All Roads Lead to Rome: Multiscalar Interactions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Modelling connections: new methodologies to understand human mobility, route networks and land use
Content:
Human mobility has been translated in various ways, allowing the creation of networks between people for the exchange of ideas, goods, cultures and technologies. However, modelling mobility still presents some challenges, such as scant information about ancient routes in the past, environmental changes, or the difficulties of taking into account cultural and cognitive factors, engaging history, geography, environmental studies and anthropology.
The study of human mobility is important in understanding political, social, and cultural transformations of ancient trade networks and economies, as well as core-periphery interactions in the archaeological record. The last 20 years have seen an explosion of studies on ancient route networks, with much of this research using computational tools. However, while these approaches have the benefit to help in reconstructing road maps based on specific itineraries, there is a well-recognised mismatch between tracking the movements of people and material along these routes. The interpretation of the generated models of movements and their relation to settlement patterns and urban layouts needs to be contextualised, and much experimental work is required to better model different types of movements and to understand traffic patterns. In addition, the issue of how to validate and test terrestrial, maritime or riverine routes remains mostly unheeded.
This session aims to explore human mobility in the past by assembling contributions dealing with new methodologies and approaches. We welcome contributions focused on methods to analyse human mobility (GIS, modelling, remote sensing, among others), approaches to seaborne and riverine routes (seasonal navigation possibilities, shipping routes), route networks, urban layouts, or multi-scalar interaction among regions without any restriction in chronology or study area.
Keywords:
human mobility, ancient routes, computational tools, landscape archaeology, transportation methods
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Mariacarmela Montesanto () 1,2
Co-organisers:
María Coto-Sarmiento (Denmark) 3,4
Paolo Cimadomo (Italy) 5
Manuela Ritondale (Netherlands) 6
Virginia Sommella (Turkey) 7
Affiliations:
1. Università degli Studi di Firenze
2. Durham University
3. Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet)
4. Aarhus University
5. Università della Basilicata-ISPC CNR
6. Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen
7. Bilkent University
THIS SESSION CAN NOT BE SELECTED AT THIS MOMENT