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A Companion to Gender Prehistory , edited by Diane Bolger, 2013. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell; ISBN 978-0-470-65536-8 hardback £130, €156 & US$195; xxiii + 642 pp., 39 figs., 5 tables

cultural cores, delimitation of expected spheres of influence or zonal differentiation between cores and peripheries to be estimated in advance. Other chapters also deal with the issue of centrality, noting it in considerations of temporality, community detection in the landscape (Scholnick et al. Chapter 5) and multi-scalar analysis of ties between intraand intercommunity systems (Mol & Mans Chapter 13). The authors succeed to acknowledge and incorporate the works of their predecessors in the more general field of social sciences that have been developing since the 1940s (e.g. Freeman 2004; Scott 2000), and to reflect upon the fact that certain aspects of network analysis have influenced archaeology since the 1970s at least (e.g. Clarke 1977; Hage & Harary 1984). Given that the title of the book declares focus on regional-scale studies, the reader should be prepared to find little reference to other types of contexts, which can be studied using network analysis such as long-distance trade and social links, development of social networks spanning across continents and effect of power negotiations on the scale of individual settlements. The analyses presented here reconstruct network systems largely on the basis of portable material culture, such as distributions of pottery types and traded items, although with reference to other types of evidence. The reader might miss some reflection on other themes related to network analysis, most prominently the evidence of non-portable features of human culture such as the built environment. As with other types of analysis based on structuralist principles, network analysis is also exceptionally well suited to the study of development of social, political and economic institutions. This stream of thought, as well as incorporation of linguistic and written evidence, is perhaps most expressively followed in the chapter of Scholnick, Munson and Macri on power negotiations in Classic Maya society (Chapter 5). Overall, the book introduces a useful method for archaeologists who seek an alternative approach to compensate for the weaknesses of other tools used in archaeology such as GIS, which require a considerable input in terms of predetermined ‘points and zones’ (Knappett, p. 6). As is highlighted in the introductory chapter, all authors apply network analysis to provide insights on past ‘patterns and processes of interaction’ (Knappett, p. 3). They demonstrate the ability of the method to cater for questions of both positivists’ systematizing as well as relativists’ contextualizing character, such as adaptation (Gjesfjeld & Colby Phillips, Chapter 12) and the emergence of ethnicity and identities in the past (Blake, Chapter 9 or Collar, Chapter 10). As Sindbæk (Chapter 4) points out, and all authors strive to adhere to, it is crucial that any interpretations built on the basis of network analysis have a strong contextual component, because archaeologists in fact engage in reconstruction of past networks rather than their analysis, as it is the case in other social disciplines. A highlight deserving the attention of archaeologists with any theoretical inclination is the last invited chapter by Sander van der Leeuw (Chapter 14) which, in a very wellwritten manner, considers the connotations of increasing use of network analysis in social sciences. Here, van der Leeuw comments on how the understanding of change has developed into seeing it as continual and ever-present, with archaeologists being charged with revealing its nature. He also points out the importance of theoretical understanding of network analysis beyond merely using it as a method, and evaluating the meaning of each network’s properties. Overall, this book represents a much-needed addition to the growing body of archaeological literature dealing with structural methodologies in the discipline. Although the volume largely keeps its focus on the regional scale and on the studies of portable item distribution, its thought-provoking contents and high-quality case studies will surely inspire further developments in this field of archaeological inquiry.