Computational approaches in the practice of archaeology

Computational techniques including visibility and least-cost path analyses and agent-based modelling have rapidly grown in archaeological research. While fruitful, this research focuses on a narrow range of themes, overlooking variability in the practice of archaeology. Archaeologists are aware of variation in archaeological investigations in patterns that are seen on local and national scales, yet we have only a partial understanding of how and why these patterns evolved through time. This situation has obscured the impact of such variability on our understanding of the past. While current efforts including the building of cyber-infrastructures acknowledge variability in sources of geographically-referenced information, they underestimate the social context of archaeology and the intersection of knowledge, space and power, a key factor in the practice of archaeology. Who are the archaeologists and archaeological teams that carried out field investigations, what were their aims, and which methods and tools and technologies did they employ? Where and when did field studies take place and what weight was attached to these places of interest? To begin addressing these questions, this session calls for computational research broadly defined, on social dimensions of the practice of archaeology in any local, national and regional context, covering any period of time.