Cultural evolution of Neolithic archaeology in the Taihu Lake region of China based on complex network model

The evolution of archaeological culture is significant for studying the activities and cultural characteristics of ancient human within a specific time and space. Based on Neolithic archaeological texts in the Taihu region, we adopted complex network analysis to construct network models for the Majiabang, Songze, Liangzhu, and Maqiao cultures. The structural characteristics of prehistoric societies in those periods were separately explored from small-worldness, network accessibilit,y and network stability. The law and trend of regional cultural evolution were analyzed. The results are as follows: (1) The Neolithic cultures of the circum-Taihu region exhibit the property of small-worldness, indicating a homogeneous societal structure. (2) From Majiabang to Liangzhu period, the network structures evolved stably, but from Liangzhu to Maqiao period, the cultural development declined, signaling a downturn. The network model proposed in this paper provides a new way to quantitatively studying the ancient societal evolution and promote the development of scientific archaeological research.