UCL Discovery

Abstract

This paper argues that two major related trends -- the now substantial circulation of digital archaeological datasets and the increasing number of ways in which people engage with archaeology via online media -- should encourage us to reassess what value we and others wish to place on the past, how we share archaeological information and what kinds of archaeological communities we wish to promote. One useful approach to these questions is via social anthropological theory that addresses valuation, authority and the structuring of inter-personal relationships. Understanding the degree to which these features of social life are, or are not, transformed by new digital communication technologies also helps us to re-conceptualise archaeological communication with new priorities and opportunities in mind. This paper explores these ideas further via two case studies involving the sharing of spatial or spatio-temporal knowledge: (a) open data and open source software for spatial analysis, and (b) neogeography and geocaching.

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