Preface to the Urkesh Global Record

Giorgio Buccellati – January 2008

Goals

The browser edition of the Urkesh data aims to provide a type of publication that differs substantially from what is standard in the field. While fulfilling the same goals as the normal final publication of an archaeological project, it goes beyond that aim by addressing the issue of digital publishing. This is not the electronic version of a printed book. It offers instead a radically new approach that is very explicitly “born digital.” As such, it will require a certain effort for the “user” to develop a full familiarity with its characteristics, although it is hoped that both the basic categorizaion of the material and the digital presentation will easily be appropriated as readily intuitive.

The material presented in this particular publication comes from a specific, single excavation unit. The data excavated are presented in their entirety as first observed, and recorded, during the excavation process. I call this a “global record” in the specific sense that nothing is omitted. At the same time, the presentation is so articulated that I trust it will be possible to grasp the overarching threads that hold the details together, while at the same time allowing for full capillary access to the most minute of details.

From input to publication

A major aspect of the Urkesh Global Record is that it is produced on an ongoing basis in the field during the excavations, from the normal input provided by all members of the proejct. This is a central goal of the project and it adds considerably to the broader significance of a browser edition in three respects.

The constant and instant access to the full universe of data impacts in a determinant way on strategy. Hence the value of the project should be judged not only for what it offers at a later date and a remote location, but in view of the fact that the Urkesh Global Record is constructed in exactly the same format during the very process of excavation.
For this very reason another major goal of the project will emerge clearly: the remote user has access to exactly the same observations as the excavator (if not the same physical data). The goal here is to allow to come as close as possible to the ideal objective of allowing the repetition of the original experiment. While the excavation cannot be duplicated as such, conclusions can be drawn on the basis of exactly all and the same observations that have guided the excavator.
Finally, we address thereby the problem of the chronic delay in the publication of excavation reports. The solution proposed rests on two considerations that are purely methodological – the sharp distinction between emplacement, deposition and typology on the one hand and, on the other, the application of a rigorous grammatical approach to the data as observed. The presentation of unit J2 that is contained in this publication appears a little less than a year after the conclusion of the second season of excavations. In the future, it is expected that publication of any given unit may appear within a span of a few months following the close of excavations.

The accompanying synthetic volume

TEXT TO BE WRITTEN

Principles and presuppositions

Emplacement and deposition.

Cf. CAR.

Objectivity

TEXT TO BE WRITTEN

A Grammar of the Archaeological Record

Underlying the whole project is a broadly conceived theoretical effort, which I have articulated in a volume entitled: A Grammar of the Archaeological Record. Some aspects of this volume are briefly discussed elsewhere. The main thrust of that effort is the development of a specific theory of excavation. While how-to manuals abound, research on theory is lagging behind, and mere techniques are often presented as methods.

A synthetic overview of the axioms that underlie the Grammar is given separately. This overview dates back to the earliest stages of my effort, when its full implications could not yet be fully understood.

Excavation units and typological areas

TEXT TO BE WRITTEN

Aims and limits of the digital publication

Typology incomplete; updates; web / DVD / paper.

Authorship

General concept; for individual authorship see the dedicated page.

References

See the e-Library.