Journal Article

An analysis of network brokerage and geographic location in fifteenth-century AD Northern Iroquoia

Hart, John P., Birch, Jennifer, Winchell-Sweeney, Susan

2019

Overview

Iroquoian villagers living in present-day Jefferson County, New York, at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River and the east shore of Lake Ontario, played important roles in regional interactions during the fifteenth century AD, as brokers linking populations on the north shore of Lake Ontario with populations in eastern New York. This study employs a social network analysis and least cost path analysis to assess the degree to which geographical location may have facilitated the brokerage positions of site clusters within pan-Iroquoian social networks. The results indicate that location was a significant factor in determining brokerage. In the sixteenth century AD, when Jefferson County was abandoned, measurable increases in social distance between other Iroquoian populations obtained. These results add to our understandings of the dynamic social landscape of fifteenth and sixteenth century AD northern Iroquoia, complementing recent analyses elsewhere of the roles played in regional interaction networks by populations located along geopolitical frontiers.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: 15th century / Analysis / Archaeology / Business brokerage / Computer and Information Sciences / Cost analysis / Earth Sciences / Ecology and Environmental Sciences / Education / Geographical distribution / Geographical locations / Geography / Geopolitics / Headwaters / History, 15th Century / Humans / Indians, North American - history / Iroquoians / Lakes / Museums / Network analysis / New York / Ontario / People and places / Physical Sciences / Populations / Position (location) / Rivers / Social aspects / Social network analysis / Social Networking / Social networks / Social organization / Social Sciences / Towns / Trends