Living houses, termination rituals and the „big data“ from settlement discard

0550951 - ARÚ 2022 RIV eng A - Abstract
Kuna, Martin
Living houses, termination rituals and the „big data“ from settlement discard.
[Central European Theoretical Archaeology Group /7./ - Theoretical Approaches to Computational Archaeology. Brno, 19.10.2021-20.10.2021]
Method of presentation: Přednáška
Event organizer: Masarykova univerzita a Central European Theoretical Archaeology Group
URL events: https://www.facebook.com/Central-Europe-Theoretical-Archaeology-Group-CE-TAG-322408878365419/ 
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) EF16_013/0001439
Research Infrastructure: AIS CR II - 90134
Keywords : deposition * formation processes * closing ritual * prehistoric house
OECD category: Archaeology

The presentation was based on the „big data“ obtained by measuring non-typological attributes of several tens of thousands of pottery fragments from prehistoric settlements, in this case especially from the Late Bronze Age site in Březnice (South Bohemia). The key idea of the presentation was that without large sets of laboriously obtained and seemingly useless data, little progress can be made in understanding some of the phenomena in prehistoric archaeology. However, new perspectives may appear only if the data is placed into the context of the relevant archaeological theory. To illustrate this point, data on pottery fragmentation was collected, which helped the author to understand how particular settlement features (trenches with burnt pottery and house debris) were created. The past behaviour that was reconstructed in this could not be explained outside the broader context of settlement dynamics, including periodical destructions and rebuilding of homesteads. Some elements of the current development of archaeological theory are employed (assemblage theory, ontological turn).
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0326369