Giorgio Buccellati, A Critical Theory of Excavation and Inference
Notes to Chapter 13. The archaeological record

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13.1 Archaeological digital thought
13.2 Conceptual digitality of the archaeological record
      13.2.1 The primacy of atomism
      13.2.2 Finality of the fragment
      13.2.3 Quantification and the anchoring bias
13.3 The role of observation
      13.3.1 The dynamics of the record
      13.3.2 The observation as a structuring moment
      13.3.3 The input as argument
13.4 "Ontologies" and the semantic web
      13.4.1 Grammatical and hermeneutical aspects
      13.4.2 "Ontologies" as grammars
      13.4.3 The semantic web as hermeneutics
13.5 An archaeological record in practice
      13.5.1 A test case
      13.5.2 Global Record and Browser Edition
      13.5.3 The semantics of automation
      13.5.4 Intrinsic vs. extrinsic integration
      13.5.5 Compositional matters
      13.5.6 The basal data
      13.5.7 The scripts
      13.5.8 The dialectics of alternate registers
      13.5.9 Interactivity
      13.5.10 Globality
      13.5.11 Publication
      13.5.12 Portability
      13.5.13 Bibliographical status
      13.5.14 The presentation component of the browser edition



13.1 Archaeological digital thought

  1. Patrik 1985 "Is There an Archaeological Record"
    Roosvelt et al. 2015 "Digitization"
  2. Hodder 1999 Process, p. 181. for "hypertext" archaeology
  3. Digitality as marking a significant change in our engagement with archaeology and the past, and the great potential of digital media: Olsen et al. 2012 [Laerke Recht, August 2014].
  4. For various discussions of digital implementation, benefits and challenges, and theoretical background, see papers in Earl et al. 2013, especially Huggett 2013, Costa et al. 2013, Corley 2013 and Carver and Lang 2013. [Laerke Recht, January 2015].
  5. See also Berggren et al. 2015. [Laerke Recht, July 2016].
  6. For the question of the web and open access, see Kansa et al. 2011; Wilson & Edwards 2015. [July 2016]
  7. For an important early set of papers, see Gardin 1970. [July 2016].
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13.2 Conceptual digitality of the archaeological record

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13.2.1 The primacy of atomism
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13.2.2 Finality of the fragment
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13.2.3 Quantification and the anchoring bias
  1. For the problems of selectivity in the definition of the initial universe in a statistical sense, and ofr the notion of congruence ("concordance") in terms of quantification, see Carr 1985 Concordance, pp. 8-9
  2. For the notion of "punctuated equilibrium" see Eldredge and Gould 1972 "Punctuated Equilibria"
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13.3 The role of observation

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13.3.1 The dynamics of the record
  1. For digital monographs and digital books see ....
  2. For interpretive fluidity see Hodder
  3. For the dynamics of digital "ontology" conceived as a "living structure" see Berners-Lee et al. 2008 "Revisited," p. 99
  4. The notion of "punctuated continuum" echoes that of "punctuated equilibrium," for which see Eldredge and Gould 1972 "Punctuated Equilibria"
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13.3.2 The observation as a structuring moment
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13.3.3 The input as argument
  1. refer to specific programs, such as Neo4J withitn the Semantic web
  2. Refer to OWL - next paragraph
  3. For non-existence refer to linguistics - see Moro
  4. Refer to Network theory
  5. to (2): for language being coeval with concept see A. Moro
  6. Cf. Moro 2008. [August 2016].
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13.4 "Ontologies" and the semantic web

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13.4.1 Grammatical and hermeneutical aspects
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13.4.2 "Ontologies" as grammars
  1. On the notion of "ontology" and on the emphasis on the connection between objects and relations see Berners-Lee et al. 2008 "Revisited," pp. 96 and 98
  2. On the notion of "ontologies" in the plural see Heidegger 1927 Sein und Zeit, especially the excerpts.
  3. On the relationship between ontologies and ontology, see Arp et al. 2015 Building Ontologies
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13.4.3 The semantic web as hermeneutics
  1. For the semantic web as expressing "shared meaning" see Berners-Lee et al. 2008 "Revisited," p. 96, 100
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13.5 An archaeological record in practice

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13.5.1 A test case
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13.5.2 Global Record and Browser Edition
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13.5.3 The semantics of automation
  1. For Network Theory in complex social systems, see Wasserman & Faust 1994. - [Laerke Recht, March 2016]
  2. On Network Theory in archaeology: Brughmans 2012 and Collar et al. 2015. - [Laerke Recht, July 2016]
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13.5.4 Intrinsic vs. extrinsic integration
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13.5.5 Compositional matters
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13.5.6 The basal data
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13.5.7 The scripts
  1. We used script files back in 1977 to create a full set of cuneifor signs: the system was developed by Sal Fallone and implemented by Yoshitaka Kobayashi, see Giorgio Buccellati 1977.
  2. Our first application to archaeological data took place in the early 80'es, see Buccellati and Rouault 1983, where the output was produced by plotters. The same data can now be run on commercial programs like AutoCAD.
  3. The notion of ASCII scripts to construe analogical architectural graphics has been elaborated in full, with ample exemplificaiton, in the doctoral dissertation by Federico A. Buccellati 2013, forthcoming as a volume in the series Urkesh/Mozan Studies.
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13.5.8 The dialectics of alternate registers
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13.5.9 Interactivity
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13.5.10 Globality
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13.5.11 Publication
  1. The LAN (Local Area Network) system was set up by Federico A. Buccellati
  2. The first CD of 1998 was the one about unit OH2, see the preface to the current online edition.
  3. The aspect of dissemination of primary data is the focus of the research of Eric Kansa and associates, in particular as it regards the possibilities introduced by an open access policy to the World Wide Web, see
    Kansa et al. 2010 "Googling the Grey";
    Kansa et al. 2011 Archaeology 2.0;
    Kansa 2012 "Openness";
    Kansa and Whitcher 2013 "Publication."
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13.5.12 Portability
  1. On the early history of my efforts see ....
  2. The California Digital Library is one of the earliest and major initiatives to provide a digital framework for publications. This takes place especially through the section devoted to eScholarship. The data are primarily linear renderings of paper copies, presented in a PDF format.
  3. Open Context is devoted specifically to archaeological records.
  4. Cf. Ducke 2012; Jeffrey 2012. [Laerke Recht, July 2016].
  5. Cf. Richards 2002. [Laerke Recht, August 2016].
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13.5.13 Bibliographical status
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13.5.14 The presentation component of the browser edition
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