Archaeology and the Information Age (One World Archaeology)

261 Pages·1992·12.04 MB·English

by  Paul Reilly

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE INFORMATION AGE
ONE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY
Animals into art 1H.Morphy (ed.)
Archaeological approaches to cultural identity
S.J.Shennan (ed.)
Archaeological heritage management in the modern world
H.F.Cleere (ed.)
Centre and periphery: comparative studies in archaeology
T.C.Champion (ed.)
Conflict in the archaeology of living traditions
R.Layton (ed.)
Domination and resistance
D.Miller et al. (eds)
The excluded past: archaeology in education
P.Stone & R.Mackenzie (eds)
Food, metal and towns in the archaeology of Africa
B.Andah et al. (eds)
Foraging and farming: the evolution of plant exploitation
D.R.Harris & G.C.Hillman
From the Baltic to the Black Sea: studies in medieval archaeology
D.Austin & L.Alcock (eds)
Hunters of the recent past
L.B.Davis & B.O.K.Reeves (eds)
The meanings of things: material culture and symbolic expression
I.Hodder (ed.)
The origins of human behaviour
R.A.Foley (ed.)
The politics of the past
P.Gathercole & D.Lowenthal (eds)
Signifying animals: human meaning in the natural world
R.G.Willis (ed.)
State and society: the emergence and development of social hierarchy and political centralization
J.Gledhill et al. (eds)
The walking larder: patterns of domestication, pastoralism, and predation
J.Clutton-Brock (ed.)
What is an animal?
T.Ingold (ed.)
What’s new? A closer look at the process of innovation
S.E.Van der Leeuw & R.Torrence (eds)
Who needs the past? Indigenous values and archaeology
R.Layton (ed.)
ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE INFORMATION
AGE
A global perspective
Edited by
Paul Reilly
IBM UK Scientific Centre, Winchester
Sebastian Rahtz
Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton
London and New York
©Paul Reilly, Sebastian Rahtz and contributors 1992
First published 1992
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Archaeology and the Information Age: a global perspective. —(One world
archaeology) I. Reilly, Paul II. Rahtz, Sebastian 930.10285
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Also available
ISBN 0-203-16834-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-26356-1 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-07858-X (Print Edition)
List of contributors
Tim Allen, Oxford Archaeological Unit, Oxford, UK.
Martin Biskowski, Department of Anthropology, University of California Los Angeles, USA.
Gill Chapman, Design Department, Sheffield City Polytechnic, UK.
Costis Dallas, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece.
Ken Delooze, Computer-Aided Engineering Centre, North Cheshire College, Warrington, UK.
Pavel Dolukhanov, Department of Archaeology, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
Mike Fletcher, Mathematics Department, Staffordshire Polytechnic, Stafford, UK.
Wendy Hall, Department of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, UK.
Trevor Harris, Department of Geography, University of West Virginia, USA.
Karega-Munene, Department of History, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
Todd Koetje, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Binghamton, USA.
Martin Kokonya, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya.
Marie-Salomé Lagrange, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France.
Gary Lock, Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford, UK.
Ranjit Makkuni, System Sciences Laboratory, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, California, USA.
Arkadiusz Marciniak, Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
Roger Martlew, Department of Extra-mural Studies, University of Leeds, UK.
Maria Meneses, Department of Archaeology, Eduardo Mondlane Universty, Maputo, Mozambique.
Brian Molyneaux, Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK.
Akifumi Oikawa, National Institute for Education, Tokyo, Japan.
Włodzimierz Rączkowski, Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
Sebastian Rahtz, Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK.
Jean-Aimé Rakatoarisoa, Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie, Université d’Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Paul Reilly, IBM UK Scientific Centre, Winchester, UK.
Stephen Shennan, Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK.
Paul Sinclair, Department of Archaeology, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
Dick Spicer, School of Computing, Staffordshire Polytechnic, Stafford, UK.
Arthur Stutt, Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK.
Attila Suhajda, Independent Researcher, Szekesfehervar, Hungary.
Victor Trifonov, Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, USSR.
Lana Troy, Department of Egyptology, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
Michael Trueman, Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, UK.
Vanda Vitali, Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science, University of Toronto, Canada.
John Wilcock, School of Computing, Staffordshire Polytechnic, Stafford, UK.
Jason Wood, Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, UK.
Foreword
This book is the first in the One World Archaeology series to derive from the Second World Archaeological Congress (WAC
2), held in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, in September 1990. Despite many organizational problems (Fforde 1991, p. 6), over 600
people attended the Inaugural Session of WAC 2, with more than 450 participants from 35 countries taking part in academic
sessions, and additional contributions being read on behalf of many others who were unable to attend in person.
True to the aims and spirit of WAC 1 over three quarters of the participants came from the so-called Third and Fourth
Worlds (see Fforde 1991, p. 7 for details) and the academics came not only from archaeology and anthropology but from a
host of related disciplines.
WAC 2 continued the tradition of effectively addressing world archaeology in its widest sense. Central to a world
archaeological approach is the investigation not only of how people lived in the past but also of how and why those changes
took place which resulted in the forms of society and culture which exist today. Contrary to popular belief, and the
archaeology of some 25 years ago, world archaeology is much more than the mere recording of specific historical events,
embracing as it does the study of social and cultural change in its entirety.
Like its predecessor, this Congress was organized around major themes. Several of these themes were based on the
discussion of full-length papers which had been circulated previously—or were available to be read at the Congress itself—to
all those who had indicated a special interest in them. Other sessions, including one dealing with an area of specialization
defined by period and geography and another focusing on a particular form of agricultural practice, were based on oral
addresses, or a combination of precirculated papers and lectures.
Archaeology and the Information Age: a global perspective results from discussions over five mornings, organized by Paul
Reilly and Sebastian Rahtz, of the three volumes of precirculated papers which they had published prior to September 1990.
Following the Congress—held only one year ago—the two organizers selected certain of the papers for inclusion as chapters
in this volume, and authors were given time for revision and updating of their contributions in the light of discussions at WAC
2. The speed of publication of Archaeology and the Information Age represents considerable effort and careful planning since
1988 when this WAC theme was first envisaged.
I should admit at this point that, as an academic educated in the middle and late 1950s within anthropology and archaeology
in the UK, I was—until the above decision in 1988—almost entirely computer-illiterate. To my teenager household I was an
object of despair as I struggled to get on terms with word processing; to my Departmental colleagues I was clearly of a
different generation. Yet, my first years of research were coterminous with the ‘new archaeology’ and its emphasis on
quantitative analysis and model building; indeed, several of my earliest published assertions were supported by chi-squared
tests and similar statistics. Subsequently— through my archaeological professional career—it has seemed obvious to me
that everyone should be as precise as possible when using terms such as ‘trend’, ‘association’, ‘expectation’. I have also been
intellectually curious and intrigued by some of the research projects being undertaken by my colleagues but have often failed
to find the time to seek clarification of many of the terms casually used by them in discussion, and have thus felt, in this
context, outmoded, ignorant and dated.
In what follows, therefore, my aim is not to review the main themes of Archaeology and the Information Age—which have
been detailed in the editorial Introduction— but to examine a few of the points which have struck me personally as being of
particular note or fascination.
Earlier this year, in Zimbabwe, a postgraduate research student—employed in the museum at Harare—asked my advice
regarding his study of animal and human figurines. I found him seated at his (Swedish-derived) personal computer,
manipulating his data in a quick and reliable way that would have been quite beyond me when I was facing comparable
problems regarding the analysis of figurines in the early 1960s. It is not only that the technology is available but that the user
has no fears.
Archaeology and the Information Age is just the book for people such as me. It does not set out to teach how to use
particular forms of soft or hardware; it does not even particularly seek to explain terminology (and acronyms). Instead, it
launches the reader into the principles involved in, and the results deriving from, applications of quantitative methods and
computers to archaeological questions and archaeological situations.
vii
In so doing, the book does in fact clarify many of the terms and concepts which had remained—at least for me—only
vaguely intelligible. I am no longer, for example, still wondering whether I had perhaps misheard the words used by my
colleagues in their discussion of something apparently referred to as a ‘virtual reality’, nor do I still imagine little people
mysteriously inhabiting screens when I hear about pixels, and I no longer shudder at the mention of radiosity techniques. For
someone not interested in actually understanding how such techniques work, this book affords a marvellous way to learn—
through the context of applications of such techniques.
However, for the archaeologist, Archaeology and the Information Age should do much more than clarify. It should shock.
This book demonstrates two fundamental points: first, that the spread of technologies in the context of their archaeological
applications is likely to be accompanied by major social upheaval—upheaval which may still develop either for the better or
worse; and, second, that work and research within the sphere of applications of computer and quantitative methods to
archaeological endeavour are already engaged in a fundamental questioning of the principles and concepts which have long
underpinned traditional archaeological enquiry and interpretation.
What has taken me by surprise in this book is not so much the realization that some of the computer applications described
within its pages may or may not work (now or in the future) and thereby produce new pictures of the past, but that—whether
or not these eventuate—I need to reconsider several of my own preconceptions about method and about the nature of the
archaeological record. Many of the questions raised in several of the chapters in this book are fundamental ones.
The combination of the social and conceptual impact of the Information Age on the practice of my chosen discipline makes
this book essential reading. This same combination also explains why this book sits so happily within the aims of the One
World Archaeology series: as described within its pages, the new technologies have the potential to make knowledge about
the past more readily accessible to all, but there is also the opposite possibility, that archaeological practice may become even
further controlled by the few. It is therefore vital that archaeologists should confront what amounts to an ethical question, and
do all in their power to ensure the success of the former development, and prevent the latter.
There are also other problems that have to be faced. Even the obviously positive development of the lowering of book
prices, through the use of computer typesetting and so on, which would make books such as these available to Third World
colleagues, could have some possibly divisive and complex consequences. Uncontrolled production and dissemination of
archaeological data and interpretation has at least the potential to threaten standards of content and scholarship. Indeed, the
actual difficulties—and time-consuming nature—of electronic type-setting in desktop publishing is usually grossly
underestimated and the interests of speed of production too often conflict with such ‘mundane’ editorial aims as correct
referencing, deletion of repetition, standardization of spelling and abbreviations, accurate indexing and so on.
However, it is the whole concept and nature of a ‘book’, as we understand such an entity at the present time, which this
volume suggests may be outmoded (and see The meanings of things, edited by I.Hodder). This is not a matter of end-pockets
of books containing fiches, or other such relatively simple ways of disseminating large quantities of data to a relatively small
number of readers, but, rather, a new relationship between the written and spoken word, the pictorial image and the reader—
the latter being offered alternatives to sequential following of a given text as well as the freedom of selecting levels of
information suitable to his or her particular interests and/or level of education.
It is clear from Archaeology and the Information Age that the paucity of good and reliable in-depth studies of the reasons
for, and the results of, visits to archaeological museums and archaeological sites (and see The excluded past, edited by
P.Stone & R. MacKenzie) is likely to be even more calamitous in the Information Age than it now is. Current debates about
the nature of ‘heritage’—entertainment versus learning, or a combination of the two—have highlighted the deficiencies in our
understanding of what constitutes effective site and museum presentation. These debates have also stressed the currently
inadequate nature of collaboration between archaeologists, museum curators and display experts. This book, however, makes
it clear that the future of public interaction with the past is likely to be qualitatively different from anything that we can currently
envisage. Effective computer interactions of the kind described as already in existence in some exceptional museums will
undoubtedly force changes on the heritage industry which are really difficult to conceptualize; but they will be nothing to
those which archaeologists will have to accept in order to provide the detail and quality of information required for effective
interaction with the public, and manipulation of that data by the public itself.
The publication of Archaeology and the Information Age coincides with new Advanced and Advanced Supplementary Level
archaeology syllabuses becoming available to schools in the UK, syllabuses which some consider will force change on most
first year undergraduate university courses, both in terms of content and teaching methods. This book demonstrates the
direction that some of these changes will surely go. Now that excavations may be simulated and different manipulations of the
data attempted—without any great prior grasp of computer techniques—so the student (at school or in the university) may
learn for him or herself the profound results of an error of judgement in how to excavate—ie. through graphically
exemplifying and representing the destructive nature of archaeological excavation—as well as the nature of archaeological
decision-making in the context of practicalities such as limited budgets, the nature of available expertise, specialist equipment
needs, and so on.
viii
It is indicative of the nature of this book that a reader with no particular interest in, for example, classical Attic stelai, will
be gripped by the detailed chapter of nearly fifty pages devoted to them. Of particular interest to me was the clear revelation
that computer applications to this archaeological material raised doubts —or at least serious questions—in my own area of
research, concerning all existing attempts to recognize compositions within palaeolithic cave art! This was not so much
through some wonderful new technique, but because the research presented in this book—through its aim to investigate the
specificity and nature of possible mechanisms of communication—made explicit a number of possible ways of recognizing
composition which should, also, be testable in the context of the visual arts of other cultures. Although unable to assess the
details of the quantitative methods being discussed, I am convinced that the questions of method and principle raised by such
quantitative applications offer a new approach—even to the non-numerate— to the analysis of the visual arts, and offer new
insights into the way that such arts may act as forms of communication (and see Animals into art, edited by H.Morphy).
The chapter on Tibetan thangka paintings is equally illuminating. From now on, any of my students who are interested in
art and society, or the preservation and presentation of the heritage, will be encouraged to become familiar with at least this
chapter in Archaeology and the Information Age. As a case study demonstrating the inextricably intertwined nature of
archaeological and anthropological research with the politics of cultural identity and cultural cohesion (and see Archaeological
approaches to cultural identity, edited by S.J.Shennan, and The politics of the past, edited by P. Gathercole & D.Lowenthal)—
carried out in this case in the context of education and heritage preservation—it is invaluable. As an illuminating example of
self-conscious applied action which will, almost inevitably, change a Tibetan tradition into something ‘new’ (and see Whats
new?, edited by S.E. van der Leeuw & R.Torrence)—but still unmistakably Tibetan—it raises profound questions of principle
concerning the role of those involved in heritage preservation.
Questions regarding power and control—through access to the computer hard and softwares needed to carry out the kinds of
research described in this book—are central issues in many chapters of Archaeology and the Information Age. Indeed, the
book’s subtitle—‘a global perspective’—accurately reflects another of its striking features, the first part of the book serving to
demonstrate the vastly unequal availability— and consequent differing uses made—of computer technology within
archaeological enquiry in different countries of the world (particularly in eastern Europe and Africa).
Such questions of power and control are often also more subtle ones involving control of the human imagination and
human critical faculties by the very machines and programs which they have devised. Used without careful consideration,
information technology may stifle thought and deaden vitality and heterogeneity. Used with discretion, information
technology can be an exciting, and even revolutionary, force which should lead archaeologists to re-examine many accepted
preconceptions and unsubstantiated assumptions—the technology remaining at the service of the human masters.
Perhaps one of the best hopes for the positive future development of computer and quantitative applications within
archaeology lies with them becoming genuinely available within the so-called Third World. Archaeology and the Information
Age suggests, but does not consider in detail, that many of the already available computer programs may be applied, and
results developed, without any prior knowledge or understanding of the mathematics and engineering involved. If the potential
rigidification of thought, through the use of predetermined parameters embedded in programs, is actively counteracted by the
different conceptual assumptions and preconceptions of archaeologists deriving from non-western traditions, then the future
does indeed appear exciting and challenging.
P.J.Ucko
Southampton
Reference
Fforde, C. 1991. The Second World Archaeological Congress, World Archaeological Bulletin 5, 6–10.
Contents
List of contributors v
Foreword vi
P.J.Ucko
List of colour plates xv
Preface xvi
P.ReillyS.Rahtz
1 Introduction: archaeology and the information age 1
Paul Reilly and Sebastian Rahtz
How is information technology used in archaeology? 2
Regional patterns? 8
Democratization of archaeological knowledge? 10
Concluding remarks 12
References 12
2 The impact of information technology on the archaeology of southern and eastern Africa—the first decades 17
P.Sinclair, M.Kokonya, M.Meneses and -A.Rakatoarisoa
Introduction 17
Quantitative research in archaeology 17
The role of information technology 18
Training 19
Intra-site analysis 20
Observations on the introduction of information technology 21
Conclusions 22
References 22
3 Dissemination of archaeological information: the east African experience 24
Karega-Munene
Introduction 24
Research and publications 24
Computer networks 26
Conclusions 26
References 27
4 Polish archaeology and computers: an overview 28
Arkadiusz Marciniak and Włodzimierz Rączkowski
Introduction 28