Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book traces the interplay of digital changes and non-digital stabilities throughout the archaeological information process from the field to academic research, museums and society. It discusses the use of big harmonised geographic information system data sets from a large number of excavations in archaeological knowledge-making. The digital change is partly a very tangible and partly an imagined shift of changing priorities and perspectives. It is intertwined with societal politics and practices of conducting and using research, defining and valuing cultural heritage, keeping and managing archival information. A fundamental aim of archaeology, and of archaeological information work as an informational layer or second-order activity related to archaeological work, is to create new knowledge of past human activities. The exact definitions of what archaeology is about vary to a certain extent, but on a fundamental level, describing archaeology as a knowledge-creating enterprise is uncontroversial.