Assemblages: introduction

describe structuring method

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Context: collection

Stationary features (such as walls) and movable items (objects and samples) are seen in their identity as individual elements but correlated to other elements of the same kind: they constitute an exhaustive and comprehensive collection for study purposes.

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Method: structuring

The individual elements within an assemblage are seen to share formal traits, so that they form classes of elements. The notion of structuring refers to these classes, which are structural entities independent of their stratigraphic location, but grounded in the objective attributes that make it proper epistemic reality.

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Systems: typology & integrative

Typology – Once excavated, data can be assembled into meaningful wholes according to two distinct criteria.

The first criterion looks at data depending on their intrinsic qualities: we construct typologies on the basis of inner-referential attributes, i. e., attributes that refer exclusively to the data as such, e. g., shape or material for ceramics, iconography for glyptics, paleography or linguistic analysis for texts.

Integrative – The second criterion looks at the data with a view to integrate them into a broader picture, in terms of a variety of extra-referental attributes: these include comparison with data from other excavated sites; analysis of materials with techniques such as Carbon 14 analysis; confrontation with the broader historical framework as defined by textual data.