Capturing the Silences in Digital Archaeological Knowledge

The availability and accessibility of digital data are increasingly significant in the creation of archaeological knowledge with, for example, multiple datasets being brought together to perform extensive analyses that would not otherwise be possible. However, this makes capturing the silences in th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInformation (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 5; p. 278
Main Author Huggett, Jeremy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published MDPI AG 01.05.2020
Subjects
archaeology
data
forgetting
ignorance
knowledge
practice
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Summary:The availability and accessibility of digital data are increasingly significant in the creation of archaeological knowledge with, for example, multiple datasets being brought together to perform extensive analyses that would not otherwise be possible. However, this makes capturing the silences in those data—what is absent as well as present, what is unknown as well as what is known—a critical challenge for archaeology in terms of the suitability and appropriateness of data for subsequent reuse. This paper reverses the usual focus on knowledge and considers the role of ignorance—the lack of knowledge, or nonknowledge—in archaeological data and knowledge creation. Examining aspects of archaeological practice in the light of different dimensions of ignorance, it proposes ways in which the silences, the range of unknowns, can be addressed within a digital environment and the benefits which may accrue.
ISSN:2078-2489
2078-2489
DOI:10.3390/info11050278