Is Big Digital Data Different? Towards a New Archaeological Paradigm

ABSTRACT

Archaeological data is always incomplete, frequently unreliable, often replete with unknown unknowns, but we nevertheless make the best of what we have and use it to build our theories and extrapolations about past events. Is there any reason to think that digital data alter this already complicated relationship with archaeological data? How does the shift to an infinitely more flexible, fluid digital medium change the character of our data and our use of it? The introduction of Big Data is frequently said to herald a new epistemological paradigm, but what are the implications of this for archaeology? As we are increasingly subject to algorithmic agency, how can we best manage this new data regime? This paper seeks to unpick the nature of digital data and its use within a Big Data environment as a prerequisite to rational and appropriate digital data analysis in archaeology, and proposes a means towards developing a more reflexive, contextual approach to Big Data.

KEYWORDS:

• Big Data
• datafication
• data analysis
• affordance

Acknowledgments

I should like to thank Parker VanValkenburg and Andrew Dufton for the invitation to present a version of this paper in their “Archaeological Vision in the Age of Big Data” symposium at SAA2019 in Albuquerque and to subsequently contribute to the published collection. I also thank Erik Gjesfield and Enrico Crema for their invitation to contribute to the “Big Data in Archaeology: Practicalities and Possibilities” conference at the University of Cambridge where aspects of this paper were first trialed. Finally, I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their constructive and helpful feedback. As ever, any errors and misconceptions remain my own.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest.

Notes on Contributor

Jeremy Huggett (Ph.D. 1992, North Staffordshire Polytechnic) is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, conducting research into the theory and practice of digital archaeology. His research addresses social, political, and philosophical issues of the application of information technologies in archaeology and their effect on our understanding of the past. He blogs at https://introspectivedigitalarchaeology.com/

ORCID

Jeremy Huggett http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7535-9312