Session: #901

Content:

As archaeologists, we are very familiar with gaps in the record. The data we collect for our research are often fragmented and incomplete. Imperfect data notwithstanding, we use the methods available to transform ambiguities to unambiguities in order to construct narratives about past societies. In the last few decades, this process has increasingly involved an array of digital methods and tools. Gone are the days when a site archive consisted of a large stack of papers languishing in the office of the site director. Not only are the final datasets digitized for preservation, but in many cases the data are born-digital without ever being put on paper. However, this new way of collecting and storing data raises new challenges in data curation and reuse. The focus of this concern has generally been the final dataset, with repositories specifying which types of metadata need to be included for its archiving. More recently, researchers have pointed out that data descriptions, conceptualized as paradata, need to accompany all stages of the research process, since choices made along the way can greatly affect outcome and results. We suggest envisioning the research process as a conceptual chaîne opératoire, where not every link is preserved. To understand archaeological knowledge production, it is crucial to pay attention not just to the rationale behind using a particular methodology, but also to the specific ways in which it is implemented during the research process. By applying the chaîne opératoire approach to trace the knowledge production process, we can make visible the practices that shape archaeological knowledge production today. We invite papers on any aspect of the research chain. We are particularly interested in papers that discuss methods for preserving and/or retrieving process- or paradata in order to facilitate the curation and reuse potential of archaeological data.

Session: #901

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