  Community detection is a major issue in network analysis. This paper combines
a socio-historical approach with an experimental reconstruction of programs to
investigate the early automation of clique detection algorithms, which remains
one of the unsolved NP-complete problems today. The research led by the
archaeologist Jean-Claude Gardin from the 1950s on non-numerical information
and graph analysis is retraced to demonstrate the early contributions of social
sciences and humanities. The limited recognition and reception of Gardin's
innovative computer application to the humanities are addressed through two
factors, in addition to the effects of historiography and bibliographies on the
recording, discoverability, and reuse of scientific productions: 1) funding
policies, evidenced by the transfer of research effort on graph applications
from temporary interdisciplinary spaces to disciplinary organizations related
to the then-emerging field of computer science; and 2) the erratic careers of
algorithms, in which efficiency, flaws, corrections, and authors' status, were
determining factors.
