Testing the Robustness of Local Network Metrics in Research on Archeological Local Transport Networks

Abstract

With the increased application of network analysis in archaeology to form hypotheses, particularly concerning the research on mobility, a need has arisen to validate the network analysis results. This paper presents a case study of a local transport network in the Dutch part of the Roman limes between 70-270 AD created using a least-cost approach, and tests the robustness of the local network metric of betweenness centrality and the archaeological interpretation thereof. It is demonstrated that while the majority of sites have a robust and thus reliable betweenness centrality, there are still a large number of sites for which the network measurements are very dependent on the precise structure of the network present. Testing robustness of network analysis results thus proves a useful tool both for validating the network modeling results as well as the archaeological interpretations of that network.