Arianna Sacco was born and raised in Naples, Southern Italy. She is an Egyptologist with a BA (2007) and an MA (2009) in Archaeology, with a specialized curriculum for Egypt, from L’Orientale University in Naples. She has a second MA (2012) in Interdisciplinary Approaches to History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology from the University of Thessaly in Volos (Greece). She’s currently working on her PhD at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where she deals with the material culture of the Second Intermediate Period.

Becoming a spider
Learning how to weave your web
In network analysis, the shape of the network that you build, as well as what your graph looks like, and in general the results of the analysis, all depend on the matrix. Therefore, the way you structure the matrix is important.

Not a magic wand
Picking an application for conducting network analysis
In this article, the fourth in a series on network analysis, Arianna reviews three software applications that she has tried for her research. She will explain the reasons why she opted to use ORA.

This is the way
Establishing the direction your network will take
When studying networks, there are fundamental aspects that you need to consider and options that you need to weigh during the first steps of your analysis.

A maze of choices
How do you select which data to analyse?
The first step when conducting network analysis is to select what material to include in your database and how to structure the data. Arianna explains how you would go about creating a database, and how your database impacts the analysis of the evidence.

Network analysis in archaeology
The importance of methodology
The way we look at archaeological remains shape what we think about our past. In studying the Second Intermediate Period, a lesser-known part of Egyptian history, a new methodology has proven useful: network analysis.

Production activities at archaeological sites
Proceedings of a workshop
An interesting look at archaeological research that focuses on all aspects of the production process, from the procurement of raw materials to the use of finished products.

Displaying your identity
The statue of a Levantine man from Tell el-Dab’a
A fragmentary statue from Tell el-Dab’a features traits that the ancient Egyptians associated with people from the Levant, raising questions of self-representation and context, especially with regards to ethnic identity.

Ramesses III
Last defender of the New Kingdom
The last king of Egypt’s New Kingdom managed to stave off threats from without before being brought down by a conspiracy from within.

An Egyptian Game of Thrones?
The Second Intermediate Period
Ancient Egypt had periods of political instability, in which different factions vied for control, not unlike the drama seen in Game of Thrones.

The park of Virgil’s tomb
Monument to a famous Roman poet
The tomb of the Roman poet Virgil (70–19 BC) is located in Naples. Today, the tomb forms the centre of a park created in Virgil’s honour.