Grand challenges for archaeology

TLDR

Archaeology provides essential data on human societies, informing foundational arguments across behavioral and social sciences and underpinning debates on contemporary issues. The authors aim to identify archaeology’s most important scientific challenges to guide investment in computational infrastructure. They developed a list of these challenges themselves due to the absence of an existing list.

Abstract

Archaeology is a source of essential data regarding the fundamental nature of human societies. Researchers across the behavioral and social sciences use archeological data in framing foundational arguments. Archaeological evidence frequently undergirds debate on contemporary issues. We propose here to answer “What are archaeology’s most important scientific challenges?” The question arose as we sought to develop recommendations for investments in computational infrastructure that would enable the discipline to address its most compelling questions. Absent a list of these questions, we undertook to develop our own.