Computational classification in archaeology - an introduction
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-09-07

To make inferences on the archaeological material that go beyond the individual object we always have to decide what is similar or equal and what is not. This reasoning is at the heart of the archaeological method since its beginning and describes what we understand as meaningful categories such as a type and what we try to achieve with a typology. We group and label objects on the basis of more or, in most cases, less defined criteria. Predominantly this is still done in an ‘impressionistic’ or ‘ intuitive’ manner since more ‘objective’ and ‘standardised’ methods, combined with automated recording of the artefacts, have not found a wider reception within archaeology. The reason for this might be that most approaches are considered to be complicated, general or reductionistic. This paper is thought to be the introduction to the session and gives an overview on the use of classifications in science, the different concepts of classifications, classification techniques and validation approaches and of current developments. The idea is to provide the participants of this session with some theoretical and conceptual background knowledge in which the methodical and technical in-depth information of the other papers may be embedded.

(Oliver Nakoinz, Martin Hinz)