Digitality is a multifaceted phenomenon in archaeology. Digital tools and analytical methods open up new possibilities for discovering, examining, and documenting cultural heritage. The data collected in this process enables research questions that would have been virtually unthinkable using analog methods and without big data and AI—but the sheer volume of options available to researchers also calls for reflection: in some cases, restrictions are necessary to make well-reasoned decisions not to collect certain data. And standards must be established within the community. The effects of digital archaeology are also visible to the outside world: digital twins of ancient artifacts and sites are being created, vividly conveying what scientists are discovering about past cultures. And where the loss of original cultural artifacts is imminent—for example, due to large-scale construction projects, environmental disasters, wars, or terrorism—the methods of digital archaeology can at least preserve knowledge of these artifacts through digital documentation. Last but not least, archaeological research is also challenged by media discontinuities in the digital age: Early digital storage media, on which large quantities of archaeological findings are documented—and which were anything but suitable for long-term archiving—must be cataloged, and the information archived on them must be integrated into newly emerging data systems and archives. A complex task that the field is only slowly beginning to address.
Friederike Fless is a professor of classical archaeology at Freie Universität Berlin and served for many years as the spokesperson for the TOPOI Cluster of Excellence on the Ancient World. Since 2011, she has been president of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). In this Digitalgespräch, the expert explains the purposes for which archaeology uses digital tools, how they are developed, and how workflows are changing as a result. Fless describes how modern excavations are organized, explains the process behind cultural heritage rescue missions—such as those in Syria—and provides insight into international collaboration. Together with hosts Marlene Görger and Petra Gehring, Fless discusses why dealing with the possibilities and limitations of digital data collection on a daily basis requires bold pragmatism in light of the transience of cultural heritage; which new trends are becoming important for the digital presentation and communication of ancient cultures; how academia should address the problem of “alternative facts” circulating online regarding archaeological topics —and what questions regarding data sovereignty and ownership arise in the context of digital cultural heritage documentation on an international scale.
Further Information:
To the webseite of the „KulturGutRetter“ project: https://www.kulturgutretter.org/
To the webseite of the Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts: https://www.dainst.org/
all episodes of Digitalgespräch
The podcast is in German. At the moment there is no English version or transcript available.
