Abstract
AbstractWhile the epistemological affordances and varied impacts of different media on archaeological knowledge production have been scrutinized by many practitioners in recent decades, sources of digital structured data (e.g., spreadsheets, traditional relational databases, content management systems) have seen far less critical enquiry. Structured digital data are often venerated for their capacities to facilitate interoperability, equitable data exchange, democratic forms of engagement with, and widespread reuse of archaeological records, yet their constraints on our knowledge formation processes are arguably profound and deserving of detailed interrogation. In this article, we discuss what we call the emerging supremacy of structured digital data in archaeology and seek to question the consequences of their ubiquity. We ground our argument in a case study of a range of texts produced by practitioners working on the Çatalhöyük Research Project. We attempt to map short excerpts from these texts to structured data via the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model. This exercise allows making preliminary observations about the representational affordances and resistances of texts (which can be considered as a type of semi- or unstructured data) and structured data. Ultimately, we argue that the push to create more and more structured and structurable data needs to be tempered by a more inclusive digital practice in archaeology that protects difference, incommensurability, and interpretative nuance.
Highlights
There can be little doubt that the digital transition, especially of the last three decades within archaeology, has had far-reaching impacts upon the routine practices of representing archaeological information and, in Article note: This article is a part of the Special Issue on Archaeological Practice on Shifting Grounds, edited by Åsa Berggren and Antonia Davidovic-Walther.James Stuart Taylor: Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, YO1 7EP, UK Sara Perry: Research and Engagement Division, Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), London, N1 7ED, UKThis work is licensed under the Creative Commons1710 Piraye Hacıgüzeller et al.turn, producing archaeological knowledge
One impact of this transition has been the generation of structured data in increasingly larger quantities, which has arguably resulted in an ever-increasing dependence of archaeological knowledge production processes upon such data
We mean any data set that is “born” organized and relatively easy to search through by machines, or organized at a later stage using metadata and other means to improve its searchability. This emerging ubiquity – supremacy – of structured digital data grows out of a range of factors: new digital tools and knowhow becoming available to archaeologists; high qualitystructured data sets being increasingly taken as primary reliable resources in archaeological knowledge production; and the push toward open data
Summary
The proliferation of more-than-representational and nonanthropocentric discourses over the last two decades within archaeology (e.g., Olsen, Shanks, Webmoor, & Witmore, 2012; Witmore, 2007) and beyond it (e.g., Bennett, 2010; Law, 2004; Mol, 2002; Thrift, 2007) has made clear that scientific knowledge is produced via a skilled, messy process that involves complex interactions between people and their material and representational resources. The message in these studies has been that the epistemological agency of representations in the way we construct knowledge should not be downplayed: representations matter
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
