Archaeology, materiality and geo-space half a century after the 'spatial turn'

In this lecture, I will be posing a range of questions and conducting a range of experiments into the materiality of both analogue and digital archaeological geospaces. To start with, I will be asking whether archaeological geospaces have materiality, that is, whether any meaning is attached to metrically correct representations of archaeological spaces based on their material nature. I will experiment with and reflect on the absence of artifacts in archaeological geospaces and why archaeological materialities are almost always articulated through architectural remains there. I will also be conducting experiments on what it might mean to have a really deep map of a particular archaeological place and whether we should really feel like we've accomplished something when we have so many layers and information to map a place. That is, I will be asking, whether more is really more when it comes to mapping archaeological spaces and if we really should be so enthralled by “Big Maps” in archaeology.

Speaker: Piraye Hacıgüzeller (University of Antwerp)

This seminar is co-hosted by the Digital Humanities Research Hub, University of London, UK, and Star-UBB Institute of Advanced Studies, University Babeș-Bolyai, Cluj Napoca, Romania.