CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 9Archaeological Research and ProtectionArchaeology and Cultural HeritageUrban Design and Spatial Analysis

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 43 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Topological insights into the diachrony of ancient road networks: Exploratory predictive modelling in the Andean highlands

Open access
Saintenoy, Thibault, Llobera, Marcos, Thiéry, Nicolas M., Crespo Fernández, Marta, Fábrega-Álvarez, Pastor, Santos, Rubén·2025·Journal of Archaeological Science
DOI 10.1016/j.jas.2024.106125
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

As the footprint of the movements and interactions that shape territories, road networks constitute a key archaeological feature for studying long term territorial dynamics. However, most archaeological research has focused on individual routes at specific periods, and little has been done so far to research road networks' long-term evolution at a regional scale. While the widespread availability of high-resolution aerial imagery facilitates recording ancient road networks in details, their chronological diagnostic remains challenging since road architecture is generally not a reliable proxy and direct stratigraphic dating is limited to very few contexts. This paper outlines a modelling approach to assess the chronology of roads based on their topological relationship with dated settlements, an idea formulated long ago but never technically implemented so far. It presents a case study on a regional road network's evolution during the last millennium, in the arid highlands of northern Chile, which conserve abundant traces and infrastructure of the settlement patterns and movement systems of its ancient territories. The case study shows the potential of this predictive modeling approach to preliminarily assess the chronology of individual road segments, as well as to visualize and characterise the evolution of the whole network through the historical periods. The basic models implemented in this paper to derive probabilities could be further refined for more specific contexts and hypotheses, and applied to many deserts and mountain regions worldwide, where ancient roads and pathways frequently accumulate as part of long-term territorial dynamics. • We propose a way to tackle the palimpsest nature of path networks through time. • Network analysis provides an estimate of the chronology of road segments use based on dated settlements. • Two topological models are tested on an 600 Km cumulative road palimpsest formed over the last millennium in an Andean region. • This modelling approach may be employed to fill gaps in the empirical record from field survey and stratigraphic direct dating. • This study offers a way of assessing ancient movement systems' rationales and dynamics. • This approach is applicable to desert and mountain regions with high preservation and visibility levels.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jas.2024.106125

Cites

43 of 43 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Most territories are palimpsestic in nature, accumulating chronologically heterogeneous components, especially their road networks, which are generally composed of segments recently planned or formed, mixed with others inherited from the past territorial formations.

    “Most territories are palimpsestic in nature, accumulating chronologically heterogeneous components (Bailey 2007), especially their road networks, which are generally composed of segments recently planned or formed, mixed with others inherited from the past territorial formations that had previously developed in the same region (Saintenoy 2024;Saintenoy et al. 2025).”

    From The longue durée of andean movement networks: case study in the lauca altiplano (2025) · cites this paper as Saintenoy et al. 2025

  • In situ recording of artifact scatters is essential for assessing the chronological use of roads.

    “Additionally, it permitted the in situ recording of artifact scatters, which are essential for assessing the chronological use of the roads (Hyslop 1991;Saintenoy et al. 2025) (Figure 7).”

    From The longue durée of andean movement networks: case study in the lauca altiplano (2025) · cites this paper as Saintenoy et al. 2025

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. de Soto, 2009, La movilidad en época romana en Hispania. Aplicaciones de anáisis de redes (SIG) para el estudio diacrónico de las infraestructuras de transporte, Habis, 40, 303
  2. Pimentel, 2009, vol. 14, 9
  3. Vion, 1989, L’analyse archéologique des réseaux routiers: une rupture méthodologique, des réponses nouvelles, Paysages découverts: histoire, géographie et archéologie du territoire en Suisse romande, 1, 67

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Metadata

Authors
Saintenoy, T., Llobera, M., Thiéry, N. M., Crespo Fernández, M., Fábrega-Álvarez, P., & Santos, R.
Affiliations
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • University of Tarapacá (CL)
Corresponding author
Saintenoy, Thibault
ORCID
Saintenoy, Thibault
Venue
Journal of Archaeological Science
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2025-02
Volume
174
Pages
106125
ISSN
0305-4403 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jas.2024.106125
OpenAlex
W4405387642
Cited by
9
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 5
FWCI
8.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Archaeological Science (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
  • Horizon 2020
  • EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA 800617)
  • State Agency of Research (MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033)
  • Axencia Galega de Innovacion (IN607D 2023/11)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeological Research and Protection
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
  • Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Design and Spatial Analysis
Keywords
ancient road networks, network topology, predictive modeling, palimpsest, territorial dynamics, Andean highlands, northern Chile, movement system, historical archaeology, aerial archaeology

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review