Analysing the Dynamics among the Social Groups and the Mechanisms of Social Promotion in the Provinces in the late Old Kingdom: SNA Methods and New Research Approaches

International audienceSocial transformations are discernible within the whole Egyptian society fromthe time of the late Old Kingdom. Social mobility and hierarchy are crucial issues,especially concerning the provinces marked by an increase in the number of titledindividuals. The visual representation of social networks from the iconographical dataand records coming from the tomb of Pepyankhheryib (14th nome of Upper Egypt)using the Gephi software makes it possible to uncover the role of some individualsin this network as well as detect the dynamics among the social groups surroundingthe tomb owner, notably by connecting individuals who were involved in similarinstitutions. This approach, producing results that were unnoticeable from a manualmethod alone, ties in with a more global one whose aim is to investigate the socialstructures as well as the process of social promotion in Old Kingdom provinces bytackling this issue in a comprehensive way, based upon a crossover study of thewritten, iconographical and archaeological sources, and comparing the results withthose obtained from my analysis of the provincial administrative structures