A session at the EAA 2018 conference in Barcelona together with Prof. Rimvydas Lauzikas (Vilnius University) and prof. Costis Dallas (University of Toronto).
Abstract
One of the cornerstones of the digital society debate on national, European and global scale concerns the digitisation not just of cultural heritage assets but also of the whole process of archaeological knowledge production and professional practice. However, critical understanding of the means, practices and underlying mechanisms of knowledge production in and about archaeology from complementary theoretical and epistemological perspectives remains fragmentary, and in urgent need of focused consideration. This session brings together theoretically and methodologically informed inter- and post-disciplinary studies of archaeological knowledge production and use by researchers conducting research *on* archaeology. This session is not intended to be a forum to establish "best practices" for open access and collaboration, to develop an ideal agenda for a future digital archaeology, or to debate and agree on what are the best digital methods and tools for different aspects of the archaeological process. It invites discussion of a range of contemporary interdisciplinary approaches on the topic, bringing together the expertise of researchers working in different disciplines and looking at different aspects of archaeological knowledge production and use in different countries, sub-disciplines and professional areas. Issues to be addressed include the constitution of archaeological work at a time of increasing precarity, privatization and automation, the emergence of non-custodial and pervasive archaeological curation practices, and the applications of theoretical and epistemological approaches of information and knowledge management in archaeology. Papers discussing the challenges to the epistemic coherence of archaeology instigated by interdisciplinarity and boundary work will also be welcome.