Excavation is Destruction Digitization: Advances in Archaeological Practice

TLDR

Digitization, in a fully digital paradigm, refers to practices that leverage advances in onsite, image‑based modeling and volumetric recording, integrated databases, and data sharing. The article redefines the adage “excavation is destruction” as “excavation is digitization” and hopes that the off‑the‑shelf digital workflow will encourage adoption by other projects. Such practices were implemented in 2014 during the inaugural season of the Kaymakçı Archaeological Project (KAP) in western Turkey. The KAP recording system, developed from inception before excavation as a digital workflow, increases accuracy and efficiency, simplicity and consistency, and encourages practical and conceptual advances such as volumetric thinking and connectivity that enables group decision‑making regardless of location.

Abstract

This article modifies an old archaeological adage—"excavation is destruction"—to demonstrate how advances in archaeological practice suggest a new iteration: "excavation is digitization." Digitization, in a fully digital paradigm, refers to practices that leverage advances in onsite, image-based modeling and volumetric recording, integrated databases, and data sharing. Such practices were implemented in 2014 during the inaugural season of the Kaymakçı Archaeological Project (KAP) in western Turkey. The KAP recording system, developed from inception before excavation as a digital workflow, increases accuracy and efficiency as well as simplicity and consistency. The system also encourages both practical and conceptual advances in archaeological practice. These involve benefits associated with thinking volumetrically, rather than in two dimensions, and a connectivity that allows for group decision-making regardless of group location. Additionally, it is hoped that the system's use of almost entirely "off-the-shelf" solutions will encourage its adoption or at least its imitation by other projects.