Abstract
Abstract Archaeology and material cultural heritage enjoys a particular status as a form of heritage that, capturing the public imagination, has become the locus for the expression and negotiation of regional, national, and intra-national cultural identities. One important question is: why and how do contemporary people engage with archaeological heritage objects, artefacts, information or knowledge outside the realm of an professional, academically-based archaeology? This question is investigated here from the perspective of theoretical considerations based on Yuri Lotman’s semiosphere theory, which helps to describe the connections between the centre and peripheries of professional archaeology as sign structures. The centre may be defined according to prevalent scientific paradigms, while periphery in the space of creolisation in which, through interactions with other culturally more distant sign structures, archaeology-related nonprofessional communities emerge. On the basis of these considerations, we use collocation analysis on representative English language corpora to outline the structure of the field of archaeology-related nonprofessional communities, identify salient creolised peripheral spaces and archaeology-related practices, and develop a framework for further investigation of archaeological knowledge production and reuse in the context of global archaeology.
Highlights
The proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has created new practical opportunities for improvement in many fields, but, more importantly, it has caused major changes in how society functions (e.g., Castells, 2000)
One important question is: why and how do contemporary people engage with archaeological heritage objects, artefacts, information or knowledge outside the realm of an professional, academically-based archaeology? This question is investigated here from the perspective of theoretical considerations based on Yuri Lotman’s semiosphere theory, which helps to describe the connections between the centre and peripheries of professional archaeology as sign structures
To identify boundaries and define an outline structure of archaeological knowledge production among archaeology-related, non-professional global communities we draw from semiosphere theory, originally developed Yuri Lotman (1922–1993), the leading figure of the school of semiotics associated with the University of Tartu, Estonia (Lotman, 2001; Kull, 2011, 2014)
Summary
The proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has created new practical opportunities for improvement in many fields, but, more importantly, it has caused major changes in how society functions (e.g., Castells, 2000). This is especially pertinent at the moment, when nations are making considerable investments in creating technologies, infrastructures and standards for digitisation, preservation and dissemination of archaeological knowledge In this context when archaeological knowledge can be an important factor in overcoming contemporary societal challenges, knowledge of how it comes into being is crucial for an effective use of digital technologies in research, conservation and protection of archaeological heritage, or cultural resource and land management. It is significant for economic growth and social cohesion, the shaping and negotiation between national, infra- and trans-national cultural identities, public interpretation, formal education, informal learning, development of technologies for managing and communicating archaeological heritage, and cultural tourism and leisure, to name a few examples. Researched communities of interest have included, among others, metal detecting groups (Thomas, 2012; Rasmussen, 2014), “avocational” archaeology enthusiasts (Henson, 2014), and digital volunteers who have chosen to engage with archaeology-related endeavours through crowdsourced initiatives (Bonacchi et al, 2015; Seitsonen, 2017)
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