Four Problems for Archaeological Refitting Studies. Discussion from the Taï Site and its Neolithic Pottery Material (France)
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2023
- handle: 10670/1.tke9xq
- isbn: 978-1-032-39499-2
- hal: hal-04355706
- doi: 10.4324/9781003350026-10
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.4324/9781003350026-10
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Mots-clés
Refitting analysis Refitting of artefacts Network analysis Fragmentation network analysis Post-depositional processes Stratigraphy TaphonomySujets proches
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Sébastien Plutniak et al., « Four Problems for Archaeological Refitting Studies. Discussion from the Taï Site and its Neolithic Pottery Material (France) », HAL-SHS : archéologie, ID : 10.4324/9781003350026-10
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Résumé
Determining spatial units (e.g., layers, areas) and location of archaeological remains within these units is fundamental in archaeology. However, the fuzzy boundaries of spatial units (e.g., sediments) and the uncertainty of objects' past location (moved by possible post-depositional perturbations) are obstacles. Refitting analysis of remains are long used to reconstruct stratigraphic sequences, evaluate the impact of taphonomic processes, and detect intentional behaviour. However, four pending problems are identified and possible solutions presented. 1) Common origin is often determined from similarities in fragments. We show the inherent biases of this approach, present a new method, while arguing that physical refits only should be used. 2) Studies often count the number of refits, although this can lead to not distinguish in ambiguous cases of admixture between spatial units. The Topological Study of Archaeological Refitting method (TSAR) is applied and extended to include fragments' morphometry and distances between their locations. 3) Determining changes and fragmentation in a site formation process is limited by the impossibility to observe its past states. Three solutions are suggested (publishing refitting data, using experimental data, and simulation), fostering their collective development. 4) Current limits in computer-based simulation of fragmentation processes are presented, envisioning perspectives from high-performance computing.