ORTEGA , David

In this paper,we explore the conditions that led to the origins and developmentof the Near Eastern Neolithic using mathematical modelling of obsidianexchange. The analysis presented expands on previous research, which establishedthat the down-the-line model could not explain long-distance obsidiandistribution across the Near East during this...

In the Near East, nomadic hunter-gatherer societies became sedentary farmers for the first time during the transition into the Neolithic. Sedentary life presented a risk of isolation for Neolithic groups. As fluid intergroup interactions are crucial for the sharing of information, resources and genes, Neolithic villages developed a network of...

Developing a complex network model of obsidian exchange in the Neolithic Near East: linear regressions, ethnographic models and archaeological data

This paper examines an alternative approach to previously proposed models of prehistoric exchange such as the law of monotonic decrement or the down-the-line exchange model developed by Renfrew (Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 34: 319–331, 1968, Renfrew 1977) to explain the distribution of obsidian across the Near East during the...