The data
Non-data
The excavation process as data
The centrality of the excavatino unit
The example of strata assignment
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The data
It is a fundamental principle of the UGR that the data
be retained as observed, in their entirety. This applies only to the observations that take place during excavation, not to the subsequent typological and interpretive analysis, when selectivity is acceptable. The observations pertaining to emplacement have in fact a very special status as data: they provide the only clue there is for any possible subsequent control (i. e., for the equivalent of what would be the repetition of the experiment).
For this reason, it is imperative that all the data be kept not only in their globality as singular and atomistic observations, but also in their relationship to the immediate context in which they were found – the emplacement. Their initial aggregation in the ground is essential, and must be rigorously retained. Such aggregation bears little or no relatioship to the initial funciontal context for which they were produced and in which they were used.
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Non-data
There is, in the data, an intrinsic "disaggregation" that gives the excavated record its very particular status, that of "non-data". The concept of "non-data" mey be explained n two distinct ways.
(1) The aggregative causes (i. e., the reasons behind the aggregation we find in the ground, behind the emplacement), are multiple, often conflicting, and in any case unknown. The depositional process is the first degree of inference through which we re-aggregate the emplacement data into a meaningful sequence. "Non-data" in this sense means that the "data" are totally unstructured, save for the (accidental) connections of how they are found in the ground.
(2) This contact in the ground is then the aggregating factor. But its record is fo the most fleeting nature, for it disappears the very moment it is articulated. Articulating it, i.e., defining the nature of the contact, means to disarticulate the elements that are in contact, hence losing the evidence of the aggregating factor as found in the ground. Hence the contact is no longer aailable for independent inspection. It is no longer "given," i. e., it is no longer "data."
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The excavation process as data
Thus, a particular goal of the UGR is to retain fully for each element, seen in its atomistic dimension, the record of its initially disaggregated status in the ground. It is not just a description of the excavation as an event. But rather the embedding of the relevant excavation moment in the record of each excavated element. At the very moment this element is disembodied from its context, the process of disembodimen, i. e., of excavation, is made part of the record. The observation of the excavation moment re-embodies in the UGR record the element's initial particular embodiment in the ground.
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The centrality of the excavation unit
question of meaning
progressively higher levels
inner referentiality
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The example of strata assignment
strata sequences
managing complexity
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