In archaeology, quantitative approaches have a long tradition and belong to the very core of the discipline. However, the history of quantitative archaeological reasoning might be not as straight forward as suggested by the disciplinary history commonlys hared among archaeologists. Taken into account different social interests and traditions we doubt the narrative of linear methodological and technical progress, especially considering to a certain extent alternative developments of quantitative approaches inblocks of countries somewhat separated by language barriers. Different communities assign different roles and functions to quantitative procedures applied in archaeology. This session aims to explore the multitude of factors that determine the development ofquantitative archaeology.

Call for paper for the 2021 European Association of Archaeologists Conference, in Kiel.

Session 267 History of measuring and calculations in archaeology

Convenors

Sébastien Plutniak¹, Oliver Nakoinz², Tim Kerig², Aleksandr Diachenko³

• ¹ TRACES Laboratory, University of Toulouse, France
• ² Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel, Germany
• ³ National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

Argument

In archaeology, quantitative approaches have a long tradition and belong to the very core of the discipline. However, the history of quantitative archaeological reasoning might be not as straight forward as suggested by the disciplinary history commonlys hared among archaeologists. Taken into account different social interests and traditions we doubt the narrative of linear methodological and technical progress, especially considering to a certain extent alternative developments of quantitative approaches inblocks of countries somewhat separated by language barriers. Different communities assign different roles and functions to quantitative procedures applied in archaeology. The use of a kuhnian “paradigm change” framework might be adequate to describe some parts of this history in large scale, but certainly not the whole picture in details,which also includes other complex socio-epistemic processes such as multiple discoveries, parallel developments, absorption, generational distinctions, etc.

This session aims to explore the multitude of factors that determine the development ofquantitative archaeology.

We intend to stimulate renewed perspectives on this aspectthe history of archaeology, through approaches such as historical sociology,examinations of communication issues, analysis of the relationship between sciencesand humanities, and of the friction between theory and method.This session welcomes presentations addressing, for example :

• technological constraints
• different understandings of the role of archaeology within the poles of sciences and humanities
• research questions behind quantitative approaches
• ignorance of the other ideas due to misunderstandings and different slang
• foci on different questions and theories
• different underlying assumptions
• social conflicts between actors
• influence of other fields of science on the development of measuring and estimations in archaeology.

Submission guidelines

We assume that a deeper understanding of the history of research will allow us todevelop less biased perspectives in archaeology and more coherent applications ofquantitative approaches.

Deadline: 11 February 2021

Submission: https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2021