The fragments that emerge during the excavation are typically disconnected from each other – other than on account of how they are placed in the matrix of the soil. The image to the right illustrates a moment in the excavation of a group of sealings in unit A13: each one is labeled with a tag, so that, once extracted, it can be linked with its original emplacement.
It is in this sense that each element (items 94 and 99, as well as the matrix, accumulation 55, not labeled in the photo) may be considered as "digits". A digit does not, in and of itself, make explicit what its connection is with another digit: qua labels, 94, 99, 55 are independent entities, linked only by the alphanumeric sequence, which does not as such carry any particular meaning.
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We may compare this to a list of digits such as
1 3 4 12 1.
As such, the list appears to be random, without any particular meaning, The meaning comes if we apply qualifications which show the context within which the digits signify something specific:
1+3=4, 12AM, 1PM.
What happens with the 55, 94, 99 in the situation represented by the photo is similar:
see Density of type article, Higgett
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