Archaeology that counts: International colloqium on digital archaeology

Martin Hinz1,2, J. Laabs1,2 and M.E. Castiello1

Bern, Switzerland, 4-6 February 2019

Quantitative methods are transforming how archaeology approaches the investigation of the human past. The emerging possibilities of data integration and computational modeling enable interdisciplinary research on a new level. In large part due to the current challenges imposed by climate change, there is a growing awareness of the importance of past environmental conditions on human history. Archaeology possesses an unmatched record of societal responses to such changes, which can only be utilized by integrated research and quantitative analysis.

In order to facilitate the exchange of knowledge from recent research in this field, the Institute of Archaeological Sciences and the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern, Switzerland, organized the first International Colloquium on Digital Archaeology in Bern. For two days, 60 participants from different disciplines, many of whom were young academics, exchanged information on the status and potential of digital archaeology and socioecological modeling as an integral part of responsible and relevant research approaches. The diverse and valuable contributions were complemented by the keynote speakers’ inspiring talks.

Oliver Nakoinz (University of Kiel, Germany) started by situating digital and quantitative archaeology both thematically and historically. He pointed out that only integrative research that realistically reflects both societal and environmental influences on human development enables us to make meaningful statements about the past. The main part of the lecture therefore established quantitative archaeology not only as an integral part of archaeology itself, but rather as a natural link between the scientific approach aimed at structural analysis and the traditional approach of the humanities aimed at negotiating historical meaning and developing narratives.

Many of the following contributions dealt with quantitative approaches in spatial and non-spatial archaeological case studies as well as data-mining and new techniques of supervised and unsupervised pattern recognition in archaeological and ecological data. Juan Barceló's (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain) keynote closed the first day and opened a rich final discussion with his pointed and provocative lecture. He reflected on the challenges and opportunities of big data and machine learning for a subject like archaeology and made his position clear that scientific archaeology can only be quantitative. This did not go unchallenged, and an active debate arose, which only ended because of the conference program’s time restraints.