ABSTRACT
Anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can now make a map, resulting in a plethora of untrained cartographers. Visual communication of information is vital to the presentation of research results, yet cartography is a skill that takes time and practice to master. However, we should not dismiss the amateur cartographer (a category that applies widely within archaeology), as they can provide insights that expert map makers may very well miss. Guidance would help alleviate gaps in training and reduce the need for years of hard practice. This paper presents a metaphorical understanding of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle that might help untrained archaeological cartographers to make more accomplished maps that communicate more effectively. Further, mapping distributions should not be rejected, but needs to be better theorised and its parameters more soundly understood (including better contextualisation).
