Communication and relationships determine a large part of human society. They form the basis for trade, exchange, the transfer of ideas, domination and conflict. The reconstruction of and research on these relationships are an important part of archaeological science.
Amber is an excellent material for such a question because it only occurs in certain areas, is easy to transport (light weight) and has no practical but high social value. With the exploration of amber-based networks, it is possible to identify routes of technology and knowledge transfer on a trans-European context and to investigate the importance of different places in these networks.
The methods of choice for this project include distribution mapping and network analysis in order to investigate prehistoric relationships between people. Distribution mapping provides a fast and easy-to-use method to correlate geographic distributions of certain technological and typological aspects. Thus, it might be possible to track such aspects as well as traits and influences. The aim of the network analysis is to connect different societies based on similarities in amber artefacts and typogeographical distances. Different measurements will help to analyse the role of different regions and the spread and routes of different amber technologies and accordingly the transfer of ideas.
Distribution of amber artefacts and routes discussed in various literature sources.

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Project by Benjamin Serbe bserbe@roots.uni-kiel.de