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A two-day collaborative, multi-disciplinary symposiumThe University of Southampton24-25 March 2012RationaleOver the past decade &#8216;network&#8217; has become a buzz-word in many disciplines, including archaeology and history. Scholars in both disciplines have begun to explore the idea of complex networks in their efforts to understand social relationships in the past as well as technical relationships in their data, using methodologies drawn from complex network models devised by sociologists and physicists such as Duncan Watts and Albert-L&#225;szl&#243; Barab&#225;si. These recent developments in network analysis are based on a long tradition of work in many disciplines, including sociology, mathematics and physics, but with the increasing ubiquity of powerful computing technology across the academic spectrum, &#8216;network&#8217; perspectives and methodologies are now becoming understood and used more broadly throughout the sciences and humanities.The often large and complex datasets common in archaeology and history have stimulated the use of various techniques from network analysis as a tool for exploring these data, and such applications are already proving to be innovative and fruitful approaches to topics such as the transmission of ideas and technologies, the movements of people, objects and belief systems, interregional interactions and maritime connectivity. This growing interest is reflected in the increasing number of conferences on network analysis we have seen in these disciplines, including &#8216;Networks in the Greek World&#8217; in Rethymnon, Crete (2006), &#8216;Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World&#8217; held in Dublin (2009), a session at the Society for American Archaeology (2010), and a session at Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) Beijing (2011).These meetings have resulted in original archaeological and historical applications of network analysis published in collected volumes and journal papers, and clearly attest to its potential. However, the adoption of network techniques within archaeology and history remains surprisingly limited. Existing applications have not yet tapped into the full potential of a network perspective. The nature of historical and archaeological data as indirect and fundamentally fragmentary reflections of past dynamic processes certainly presents network analysts with a challenge, but one that promises to allow archaeologists and historians to make valuable contributions to the &#8220;new&#8221; science of networks, especially as regards the exploration of temporal change in networks over supra-generational and potentially evolutionary timeframes.This conference will provide a platform for pioneering, multidisciplinary collaborative work in the field of network science. It aims to bring together the disparate international community of scholars working to develop network-based approaches and their application to the past and to provide a forum for the discussion of the most recent applications of the techniques, in order to ask what has been successful or unsuccessful, to foster cross-disciplinary collaborations and cooperation, and to stimulate debate about the application of network science within the disciplines of archaeology and history in particular, but also more broadly across the entire field.Conference objectives:    To provide a forum for the presentation and debate of multidisciplinary network-based research and debate the ramifications of applying network-based perspectives and methodologies to archaeological and historical data    To establish a group of academics using network-based approaches to archaeology, history and allied disciplines    To foster cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaborative work aimed at integrating analytical frameworks for understanding complex networks and their application to historical and archaeological problems.    To stimulate debate about the theory and application of network analysis within archaeology and history and the relevance of this work for the continued development of network theory in other disciplines.RegistrationRegistration for 'The Connected Past: People, Networks and Complexity in Archaeology and History' is now open&#160;Everyone is welcome to attend this two-day multi-disciplinary symposium. Registration and payment details are available online:http://connectedpast.soton.ac.uk/registration/&#160; Please note that places to the event are limited, we suggest registering well before the deadline of 29 February to make sure your seat is reserved. Registration for concessions is &#163;30, standard rate is &#163;45. The event will take place 24-25 March 2012 at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Southampton (UK). This is the two days before and at the same venue as the Computer Applications and Quantitative Techniques in Archaeology conference (CAA,http://www.southampton.ac.uk/caa2012/&#160; ). We are delighted with the great response to our call for papers by scholars from disciplines as diverse as archaeology, history, mathematics, physics, computer science and classics. The range of topics is equally diverse, but all contributors and keynotes (Carl Knappett, Irad Malkin and Alex Bentley) promise to make original contributions to the use of networks and complexity in archaeology and history.Program:Saturday 24 March8-9.00 Registration9-9.15 Introductions9.15-10.00 First keynote10-10.15 Coffee10.15-11.30 First session: Theoretical and methodological concerns    Tom Brughmans            &#34;Networks of networks: A critical review of formal network methods in archaeology through citation network analysis and close reading&#8221;            Johannes Preiser-Kappeller            &#8220;Luhmann in Byzantium. A systems theory approach for historical network analysis&#8221;            Andrew Bevan            &#8220;When nodes and edges dissolve. Incorporating geographic uncertainty into the analysis of settlement interactions&#8221;        11.30-11.45 Coffee11.45-1 First session: Theoretical and methodological concerns    Astrid Van Oyen            &#8220;Actors as networks? How to make Actor-Network-Theory work for archaeology: on the reality of categories in the production of Roman terra sigillata&#8221;            S&#248;ren Sindb&#230;k            &#8220;Contextual network synthesis: Reading communication in archaeology&#8221;            Marten D&#252;ring            &#8220;How reliable are centrality and clustering measures for data collected from fragmentary and heterogenuous historical sources? A case study&#8221;        1-1.45 Lunch and poster session1.45-3 Second session: Big data and archaeology    Barbara Mills et al.            &#8220;Dynamic Network Analysis: Stability and Collapse in U.S. Southwest, A.D. 1200-1500&#8243;            Herbert Maschner et al.            &#8220;Food-webs as network tools for investigating historic and prehistoric roles of humans as consumers in marine ecosystems&#8221;            Mark Depauw and Bart Van Beek            &#8220;Authority and Social Interaction in Graeco‐Roman Egypt&#8221;        3-3.15 Tea3.15-4.55 Second session: Big data and archaeology    Eivind Heldaas Seland            &#8220;Travel and religion in late antiquity&#8221;            Alessandro Quercia and Lin Foxhall            &#8220;Weaving networks in pre-Roman South Italy. Using loom weight data to understand complex relationships and social identities&#8221;            Angus Mol and Corinne Hofman            &#8220;Networks Set in Stone: Lithic production and exchange in the early prehistoric northeastern Caribbean&#8221;            Craig Alexander            &#8220;Networks and intervisibility: a study of Iron Age Valcamonica&#8221;        4.55-5.10 Break5.10-5.55 Second keynote (and wine reception)6.00-7.00 Reception7 onwards Dinner and drinks in The Crown pubSunday 25 March9-9.45 Third keynote9.45-10 Coffee10-11.15 Third session: Dynamic networks and modelling    Ray Rivers            &#8220;‪Can we always get what we want?&#8221;            Anne Kandler and Fabio Caccioli            &#8220;The effects of network structure on cultural change&#8221;            Qiming Lv et al.            &#8220;Network-based spatial-temporal modelling of the first arrival of prehistoric agriculture&#8221;        11.15-11.30 Coffee11.30-12.45 Third session: Dynamic networks and modelling    Tim Evans            &#8220;Which Network Model Should I Use? A Quantitative Comparison of Spatial Network Models in Archaeology&#8221;            Juan A. Barcel&#243; et al.            &#8220;Simulating the Emergence of Social Networks of Restricted Cooperation in Prehistory. A Bayesian network approach&#8221;            Marco B&#252;chler            &#8220;Generation of Text Graphs and Text Re-use Graphs from Massive Digital Data&#8221;        12.45-1.30 Lunch and poster session1.30-2.45 Fourth session: Personal, political and migration networks    Wilko Schroeter            &#8220;The social marriage network of Europe&#8217;s ruling families from 1600-1900&#8243;            Ekaterini Mitsiou            &#8220;Networks of state building: State collapses and aristocratic networks in the 13th century Eastern Mediterranean&#8221;            Evi Gorogianni            &#8220;Marrying out: a consideration of cultural exogamy and its implications on material culture&#8221;        2.45-3 Tea3-4.35 Fourth session: Personal, political and migration networks    Elena Isayev            &#8220;Edging beyond the shore: Questioning Polybius&#8217;s view of Rome and Italy at the dawn of the &#8216;global moment&#8217; of the 2nd century BC&#8221;            Claire Lemercier and Paul-Andr&#233; Rosental            &#8220;Networks in time and space. The structure and dynamics of migration in 19th-century Northern France&#8221;            Amara Thornton            &#8220;Reconstructing Networks in the History of Archaeology&#8221;            Katherine Larson            &#8220;Sign Here: Tracing Spatial and Social Networks of Hellenistic Sculptors&#8221;        4.35-4.45 Break4.45-5.30 Discussion (and wine reception)5.30 onwards Dinner and drinks at The Crown pub