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Experts from around the world analyse the evolution of hunter-gatherer social networks in prehistoric times at the UA

Experts from around the world analyse the evolution of hunter-gatherer social networks in prehistoric times at the UA

On 27 October 2020, a webinar will be held to discuss the application of social network analysis on cultural evolution, and how social interactions have changed over time and space

Researchers from the University of Alicante and the University of Barcelona have organised a scientific event in the form of a webinar which, for the first time, brings together archaeologists, specialists in behavioural ecology, evolutionary anthropology and complex systems from academic institutions and research centres in the United States, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Switzerland.  The aim of the meeting is to lay the foundations of an emerging field of research: the application of social network analysis to the study of cultural evolution, encouraging an interdisciplinary debate on how social interactions have changed over time and space.

The meetings will be held online, open to the whole of society, on 27 October, 3, 10 and 17 November 2020 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The seminars, with over 100 registered participants so far from a total of 20 countries, will make the University of Alicante a place of international reference for a few days in an emerging field of research with a high scientific impact.

This action is part of the project "PALEODEM - Late Glacial and Postglacial Population History and Cultural Transmission in Iberia", funded by the European Research Council (ERC) within the framework of the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme. PALEODEM aims to reconstruct the population dynamics between the end of the Magdalenian and the recent Mesolithic (15,000-8,000 years ago) in the Iberian Peninsula, a period that witnessed major climatic and environmental transformations, whose impact on human demography remains unknown.

The project team, led by researcher Javier Fernández-López de Pablo, from the University of Alicante Institute for Research in Archaeology and Historical Heritage ((INAPH) and member of the Prehistory Research Group,  has set up these meetings with the purpose of creating an international space for discussion to promote the exchange of knowledge on cultural accumulative change, cultural dynamics and social networks.

All details about the event, participants, programme and registration can be found at the PALEODEM project website.