Theories and Methods in Archaeology

This paper focuses on a framework (H3DM-model©cham/ew-2016) in which the history of the Euregio of Maastricht can be described in all its diversity and connectivity. This framework brings selected and limited information together and forces to relate these informationscores (place, period, themes) within itself, with specific diversity and complementarity as a result. This in sharp contrast to what happens regularly: bringing together as much information as possibly, which blurs our view of the past and doesn " t help the proper understanding of our shared history. Although this framework is developed on behalf of the Maastricht-Euregio, its focus can easily be translated towards other regions and is not merely applicable on South-Limburg and the adjacent Belgian en German regions.

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O uso do tabaco foi prática quase ubíqua entre os luso-brasileiros, desde a implantação da colônia no século XVI. Hábito adquirido dos nativos e ressignificado ao longo dos séculos, ele podia ser mastigado, aspirado como rapé, ou inalado em cachimbos, cigarros, e, posteriormente, charutos. A iconografia histórica e os relatos dos cronistas ilustram vários desses momentos cotidianos. Neles o fumo aparece como coadjuvante e em segundo plano, mas recorrente. Nesta tese, procuro trazer o fumo e os cachimbos arqueológicos, em especial os de caulim, para um primeiro plano, valendo-me de ambas as fontes de informação: históricas e arqueológicas. Esses cachimbos, pouco estudados no Brasil, são o foco material principal desse trabalho, sobre os quais está sintetizada aqui a principal bibliografia internacional de análise, para futuras referências. Apresenta-se também uma distribuição amostral de tipos de cachimbo no registro arqueológico brasileiro, a partir de informações secundárias compiladas sobre vários sítios arqueológicos. Para trabalhar em escala mais local e aproximar contextos pontuais de consumo e uso de tabaco, são então expostas as análises realizadas em seis coleções arqueológicas de cachimbos de caulim. São elas a do Forte Orange e a do Recife Antigo, PE; a da Sé Primacial de Salvador, BA; as da Zona Portuária do Rio de Janeiro – Etapas 1 e 2, RJ; e a da Praça Cel. Osório, Pelotas, RS. A partir desses dados arqueológicos, do seu padrão de dispersão e dos períodos a que se referem, ficou evidente que os maiores acervos de cachimbos de caulim no Brasil se referem principalmente a duas conjunturas históricas: às investidas e ocupações holandesas seiscentistas e à abertura dos portos e a modernização do Império do Brasil que se seguiu. Os cachimbos da ocupação batava do século XVII foram discutidos aqui como símbolos militar-nacionalistas de um elemento exógeno, que nunca se integraria de fato à sociedade brasileira. Já os do século XIX, evidenciam uma tentativa de pouco sucesso de penetração desse item no território. Entre essas duas amplas conjunturas, intercalaram-se outros cachimbos, também identificados em regiões litorâneas e portuárias, onde circulavam marinheiros, mercadores, soldados, estivadores e outros trabalhadores do mar. Considerando os contextos de identificação dos acervos robustos de cachimbos de caulim, penso que eles recorrentemente estão associados a grupo estrangeiros ou a luso-brasileiros em contato frequente e direto com eles: em um primeiro momento, os holandeses, e num segundo, comerciantes e trabalhadores do mar.

Devido a necessidade de debate sobre o emprego de maquinário pesado em escavações arqueológicas controladas, este trabalho visa apresentar, sumariamente, um possível histórico do uso de equipamentos mecânicos em escavações arqueológicas, o método de escavação em área ampla por decapagem mecânica e um esboço sobre o seu potencial analítico. Consideramos de grande importância trazer à tona o debate sobre este método de escavação, pois o seu emprego em projetos de arqueologia de contrato permite a aplicação de uma abordagem pouco vista nos mesmos. Tal abordagem estaria, então, relacionada ao estudo de sítios arqueológicos em nível comunitário, através de uma apropriação da Arqueologia das Unidades Habitacionais que vem sendo empregada no estudo das habitações Aristé escavadas pelo método decapagem mecânica no Amapá.

Due to the need for debate about the employment of heavy machinery in controlled archaeological excavations, this article aims to present, summarily, one potential history of the use of mechanical equipment in archaeological excavations; the wide area excavation method by mechanical stripping; and a sketch about its analytical potential. We consider of great importance bring to light the debate on this method of digging because its use in contract archeology projects allows the application of a rarely seen approach in them. Such approach would then be related to the study of archaeological sites at the community level, through an appropriation of the Household Archaeology that have been employed in the study of Aristé dwellings dug by mechanical stripping method in Amapá.

We discuss the important role of the feminist critique in bringing awareness to gender, childhood, and identity research, and in giving voice to the perspectives of underrepresented groups. As a case study of ancient social lives and gender, we discuss a range of Marajoara identity markers interpreted through the study of ceramic tangas (female pubic coverings) from Marajó Island in the Brazilian Amazon (A.D. 400-1400). There, tangas were made and used by women as a material representation of social position, gender, and individual identity. We argue that identity constitutes a fundamentally important aspect of archaeological research, and that the strongest case studies in identity are those that encompass a variety of gendered inferences to understand social lives of the past.

Archaeology, and in particular Classical Archaeology, that is the archaeological investigation of the great Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, has been one of the principal fields of interest –scholarly or not- for the past few centuries. The contribution of Renaissance for example, to the revival of the ancient Greek culture is immense and well attested. It is remarkable that until the end of the 17th century, the base for the “education of a gentleman” was the study of the art, language, philology and history of the Classical world, a pattern that lasted for over 200 years. And even if that sounds strange for such a traditional field, archaeology has been a discipline that involved always the cut in edge technologies for research and study. Aim of this paper is the contemporary interdisciplinary approach in Archaeology that involves sciences and technology. More specifically, the goal is to present the up to date contribution of the new technologies and to trace issues and problems in order to explore the new directions of this interdisciplinary study in the archaeological research.

Aboriginal rock features are poorly studied in archaeological contexts to date,however a few recent studies show some cairns point toward prominent natural landmarks. My thesis tested the pointing cairn hypothesis at the Far View Butte archaeological site (35LK1483) in the Fort Rock Basin, Lake County, Oregon. In the field, I located, recorded and systematically measured the orientation of the most prominent angle of 40 capstones on 38 identified stacked rock features. Using GIS, I tested whether these stacked rock feature caprocks pointed to one of five prominent topographical landmarks visible to the site area, within a 2° margin of error. The end results of this study show there were five alignments or positive matches, or 12.5% of the 40 tested caprocks. While this is slightly higher than expected due to chance, it is
unclear if any of these alignments are intentional.

The long-standing debate over the origins of violence has resurfaced over the last two decades. There has been a proliferation of studies on violence, from both cross-cultural and ethnographic and prehistoric perspectives, based on a reading of archaeological and bioarchaeological records in a variety of territories and chronologies. The vast body of osteoarchaeological and architectural evidence reflects the presence of interpersonal violence among the first farmer groups throughout Europe, and, even earlier, between hunter-gatherer societies of the Mesolithic.

The studies in Beyond War present the necessity of rethinking the concept of “violence” in archaeology. This overcomes the old conception that limits violence to its most evident expressions in war and intra- or extra-group conflict, opening up the debate on violence, which allows the advancement of knowledge of the social life and organization of prehistoric societies. Determining archaeological indicators to identify violent practices and to analyse their origin and causes is fundamental here, and represents the only way to find out when and under what historical conditions prehistoric societies began to organize themselves by exercising structural violence.

Presentación de algunos “principios” planteados desde la Arqueología de la Arquitectura sobre la restauración monumental. Por una parte se analiza la Arqueología como un instrumento de conocimiento de la Arquitectura. El edificio histórico posee una condición arqueológica, especialmente presente en el momento de la intervención restauradora y que obliga a su riguroso registro interdisciplinar como método de preservar su memoria. Por otra parte se analiza la Arqueología como instrumento de la restauración arquitectónica. Se repara en criterios restauradores que surgen de la mentalidad estratigráfica, de la importancia de las superficies y del diálogo entre los conceptos de autenticidad y originalidad.

In considering the possibility of the existence of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, an independent means of verifying eyewitness accounts of flying saucers and alien beings on Earth is proposed. The approach would be an archaeological one whereby various archaeological surveying and excavation techniques would be used to examine an alleged landing or crash site of an extraterrestrial craft. The alleged flying saucer crash sites of 1947 in the vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, are highlighted by way of example. Following an overview of the eyewitness testimony relating to the Roswell Incident, the methods by which the alleged crash sites might be assessed are outlined.

POTTERY TECHNOLOGY OF SICILIAN MIDDLE BRONZE AGE: THE PITHOI OF MONTE SAN PAOLILLO (CATANIA) - The technological features of Sicilian Middle Bronze Age pottery, represented by the production of Thapsos type, has been in general largely neglected due to the lack of overall studies on ceramic complexes coming from recent excavations. Besides the evidence of the materials found in the explorations carried out in the past century by Paolo Orsi in the territory of Syracuse and published according to the scientific standards of that time, new significant data have been added by the exploration of the site of Monte San Paolillo, in the suburb of Catania. Here, a settlement of Thapsos period has been discovered with a rich assemblages of pottery, also including, for the first time, Mycenaean and Maltese imports. Among the pottery classes identified, a very important evidence is represented by a group of pithoi on which a specific study of every steps of productive procedure has been carried out with the support of petrographic analyses. The fabrics identified testify specific strategies for selecting clays and experiments about addition of tempers in order to enhance the technical level of this specialized production. While the typological variety can be interpreted both with a strong link with the Early Bronze Age tradition and with a probable functional distinction between the types. In the cultural scenario of Middle Bronze Age Sicily, characterized by a general scarcity of published data about settlements, the evidence of Monte San Paolillo and its pithoi can also add relevant information also about economic policy of indigenous communities.

**Attention!** After I've just realized (April 2021) an error in the specification of the units of measurement in the captions of the profile images (cm instead of mm), I have uploaded a corrected version of the poster. Sorry, but mistakes happen.

This poster was presented  at the anniversary conference "Glass of the Caesars @ 30" in November 2017 at the British Museum London.

There are records of more than 360 glass vessels and fragments with cold-worked figurative cuts and engravings from the late antiquity. They were produced in different areas of the Western Roman world and are categorized by stylistic features into various groups or so-called workshops. However, to this day, there is neither any archaeological evidence of such a workshop nor have any working tools or illustrations of this special artistic craft been found. Since the first finds in the 19th century, the many suggestions regarding potential tools and techniques stand in profound contrast to the lack of thorough investigations.
The author’s dissertation in archaeology on “The late antique figure-engraved glasses” is an interdisciplinary research project which includes a modern documentation of these objects via digital microscopy and portable X-ray fluorescence analysis in order to arrive at substantiated conclusions regarding “workshop groups”, used tools and artistic practice (technique, style). Therefore, about 100 relevant vessels and fragments were analyzed by the author including 18 glasses which were presented at the 1987 Glass of the Caesars exhibition. A new generation of digital microscopes makes it possible not only to get high-resolution images of the engravings but also three-dimensional cross-sectional views and exact measurements of the corresponding profiles.

Quali sono gli elementi che componevano il rituale funerario delle comunità siciliane dell’età del Bronzo Medio? Come era fatta la “casa” dei morti? Quali liturgie erano praticate dai vivi in onore dei loro cari dipartiti? Quali oggetti componevano il corredo per accompagnare i defunti nel viaggio verso l’aldilà?
Il saggio tenta di rispondere a questi e molti altri quesiti, attraverso l’interpretazione dei dati e delle informazioni ricavate dalla rilettura esegetica degli scritti di Paolo Orsi. Lo studioso, che ha lavorato in Sicilia a cavallo tra XIX e XX secolo, rappresenta tuttora uno dei pochi riferimenti per gli studi di archeologia funeraria durante il Bronzo Medio.
Nelle pubblicazioni di Orsi è possibile rintracciare alcune delle “tracce” che componevano il rituale funerario delle comunità della metà del II millennio a.C. Prendendo in considerazione aspetti quali l’architettura funeraria, la deposizione dei corpi, le combinazioni di corredi e liturgie funerarie, si propone una sintesi sullo stato dell’arte secondo le moderne concezioni dell’Archeologia funeraria.
Cartaceo e eBook: http://bit.ly/2vYL36K

What are the elements which composed the funerary ritual Sicilian communities of Middle Bronze age? How it was made the home of the dead? What liturgies were practiced by alive in honor of their loved ones gone? What objects made up the outfit to accompany the deceased on the journey to the afterlife? The essay attempts to answer these and many other questions, through the interpretation of the data and information obtained from the Exegetical interpretation of the writings of Paolo Orsi. The scholar, who worked in Sicily at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is still one of the few references for the study of funerary archaeology during the Middle Bronze Age. In the publications of Orsi is possible to trace some of the "tracks" that composed the funerary ritual of the communities of the mid 2nd millennium BC taking into consideration aspects such as funerary architecture, the deposition of the bodies, the combinations of kits and funeral liturgies, we propose a summary of the State of the art according to the modern concepts of Funerary Archaeology.
Print or eBook: http://bit.ly/2vYL36K

The student research project "Archaeological Landscape of the Island of Ist-Archaeo.IST" was initiated in 2020 with the aim of studying various aspects of human interactions with the islandscape through the diachronic prism of analysing the settlement pattern and land use from prehistory to the Late Middle Ages. The basis of landscape research was the application of a systematic field survey. The island landscape has been found as a challenging environment for conducting research, and in response to a specific terrain situation, a modified survey methodology concept has been developed.

A rescue excavation was carried out in the Staré Město-"Špitálky" location in 1949-1950 by J. Poulík who examined an enclosed sacral area with the remnants of a Great Moravian church and a smaller inhumation cemetery containing more than 40 graves. The church and the immediate surroundings later became part of a national cultural monument. A new evaluation excavation took place there in 2020 in connection with its complex revitalisation and focused on the area north of the church's foundations. The survey proved that although neither the ecclesiastical area nor the cemetery continued in this direction, it did document intensive prehistoric occupation. Besides the settlement features (Moravian Painted Ware culture-MPWC, Urnfield culture-UFC), two graves were also discovered. Based on the inventory and funeral rite, one grave can be dated to the final phase of the Corded Ware culture while the other is represented probably by a UFC pit cremation buri al. The study assesses the newly uncovered archaeological situations set in the context of the settlement structure in the Staré Město area in the individual prehistoric periods.

Neolithic ditched enclosures appear to be widely distributed across Central and Western Europe, and from the Mediterranean area to Scandinavia. They have been known in areas of Europe for a long time, but particularly in the last 25 years studies on British, French, Central European, and Scandinavian ditched enclosures have flourished. In line with this, a number of international meetings occurred in the last three decades. In southern Iberia, by contrast, ditched enclosures only began to be known in the 1970s, and even then methodological deficiencies and lack of funding hampered their characterisation. As a consequence of this, Iberian Neolithic and Copper Age ditched enclosures were largely unknown outside Portugal and Spain. They were not represented in any of the international meetings above, nor included in any of the syntheses made about the topic. Not only that, for decades, Spanish and Portuguese archaeologists were not aware of the potential analogies themselves, and the research that was being carried out elsewhere in Europe had almost no influence on the way ditched enclosures were surveyed, excavated, and interpreted in the peninsula. The main objective of this article is to advance the recognition of the southern Iberian evidence by other European researchers and the integration of the Iberian conversation into the general discussion. The focus will be on how these sites have been studied by several generations of Iberian archaeologists, in an attempt to explain why it has taken Portuguese and Spanish archaeologists so long to realise that Iberian enclosures should not be understood in isolation.

Refitting and conjoinable pieces have long been used in archaeology to assess the consistency of discrete spatial units, such as layers, and to evaluate disturbance and post-depositional processes. The majority of current methods, despite their differences, rely on the count and proportion of refits within and between spatial units. Little attention is paid to the distribution and topology of the relationships between fragments, although this is now known to have significant effects on archaeological interpretation. This paper presents a new methodological approach for refitting studies. The TSAR approach (Topological Study of Archaeological Refitting) draws on concepts and methods from graph theory to model the network of connections observed between refitting fragments. Measures of cohesion and admixture of spatial units are defined using the structural properties of the sets of refitting relationships. To ensure reproducibility and reusability, the TSAR method is implemented as an R package, which also includes a simulator generating refitting fragments scattered in two spatial units. The advantages of the topological approach are discussed by comparing it to: (1) the results of a survey in which archaeologists were asked to rank examples of stratigraphic admixture; and (2) other computational methods. The approach is applied to simulated data, and empirical data from the Liang Abu rock shelter (East Borneo) are presented. Finally, the use of the TSAR simulation approach to test different scenarios of site formation processes is demonstrated.

In this paper we aim to reassess the possibilities of studying an Andalusian territory with the limited resources currently available to make an extensive study. We put into question two of the traditional methodological milestones used discriminately, without giving them the same consideration: written sources and archaeological survey. While the former has enjoyed an almost historical acceptance by the scientific community who rarely question its validity, the second is continually subject to value judgments, considering these documents are as valid as the ones found in the archives. To put it briefly, we considered whether or not it would be possible or necessary to change this situation and, especially, if it is of any use in the knowledge of our territories.

The paper is the reaction to the contribution by Marko Porčić in this volume of Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology, presenting his views on the epistemological character and status of excavation in the archaeological process of knowledge acquisition. Here it is argued that the analysis of Porčić is simplified, non-consequential and founded upon the outdated concepts of epistemological analysis of science, which takes into account only the internal disciplinary epistemology and sharply divides theory from practice, thus considerably lowering the potential for research of archaeological epistemology. Discussing a research field, especially a humanistic one such as archaeology, exclusively in the light of its categories and concepts and ways of thinking inevitably leads to a massive reduction in the understanding of knowledge production.  If  the  ideal  of  so-called  hard  sciences,  followed  by  Porčić,  was  a  severe  detachment  of  ob-jects from subjects, supposedly leading to guaranteed neutrality (objectivity) of knowledge – the first half of the 20th century ideal, today abandoned in many respects even in hard sciences themselves – the constitutive element in humanistic disciplines is (auto)reflexivity and interactivity of researchers in respect to “other people and their work”, and therefore a completely different role of “subject” and their surroundings. Following his internalist approach, Porčić attempts to approach the epistemic structure of archaeology and its modes of knowledge building from the point of view of the so-called (by the author himself) general epistemological model, according to which a research starts by shaping a previous statement (hypothesis), followed by testing and final verification of a new knowledge. Attempting to preserve the “neutrality” of epistemological analysis, Porčić does not take into account the fact that every knowledge, including the scientific one, is historically and culturally conditioned; this fact, which is the foundation  of  every  consideration  of  knowledge  and  ways  of  its  production,  particularly apparent in humanistic disciplines, is also present in the epistemology of hard sciences, to which Porčić refers. His perseverance to remain strictly in  the  domain  of  “theory”  and  complete  neglect  of  the  role  of  practice  in  the  process  of  knowledge  acquisition  is  expressed  in  a  string  of  completely  false  statements, such as e.g. (theoretical) redundancy of archaeological excavations, or finitude (limitedness) of archaeological inquiry, reached upon by simple syllogistic exercises, often starting by erroneous or tautological premises. Perhaps the most eloquent illustration of the inadequacy of the so-called general epistemological model for archaeology is the neglect of preventive archaeology – today amounting to more than 90% of all archaeological fieldwork in Europe. However, Porčić practically denies all epistemological value to this work, per-severing in the extremely reductive view of archaeology, and at the same time neglecting important epistemological perspectives of the discipline.

Neubau einer Brücke der Landstraße L 51 in Schönebeck-Frohse, Salzlandkreis René Wollenweber, Halle (Saale) Wurden beim Bau der Bundesstraße B 246a bei Schönebeck zahlreiche Funde und Befunde meh-rerer prähistorischer Zeitepochen entdeckt, so durfte auch bei anderen Straßenbauarbeiten im näheren Umfeld mit ähnlich relevantem Fund-anfall gerechnet werden. Im Zuge eines Brücken-neubaus der Landstraße L 51 über die Bahngleise der DB AG wurde im Ortsteil Schönebeck-Frohse im März/April 2oo9 eine archäologische Grabung durchgeführt, die ebenfalls einige bemerkens-werte Befunde zutage brachte. So wurde im Fundstellenbereich – neben 6o Siedlungsbefunden, darunter vor allem neo-lithische Siedlungs-und Pfostengruben, zwei undatierbare Gräben sowie ein spätbronze-/früh-eisen zeitliches pit alignment – auch eine außer-gewöhnliche Überschneidung zweier neolithi-scher Zeithorizonte aufgedeckt. Sie wird zum einen durch eine mittelneolithische Hocker-bestattung der Baalberger Kultur (4ooo/39oo– 34oo v. Chr.) und zum anderen durch eine sich unmittelbar darüber befindende Brandbestattung mit endneolithisch datierenden Artefakten der Schönfelder Kultur (28oo–22oo v. Chr.) repräsen-tiert. Auf beide Grabbefunde sei im Folgenden näher eingegangen. Befunde und Funde Bei der Körperbestattung handelt es sich um eine rechtsseitige Hockerbestattung, die Nordost–Süd-west ausgerichtet ist (Abb. 1); der Blick ist nach Norden gewandt. Am Fußende war eine vierösige Amphore mit Trichterrand niedergelegt (Abb. 2), die die Bestattung in das Mittelneolithikum (Baalberger Kultur) datiert. Eine leicht nach Süden versetzte, lockere Steinsetzung mit den Ausmaßen von 1,5o m x 2,25 m schloss die Grabgrube nach oben ab.

Resumen
En este trabajo se realiza un recorrido historiográfico sobre los conceptos de Gravetiense y Perigordiense. Se
pretende mostrar cómo ha cambiado la consideración de este fenómeno desde cultura a tecnocomplejo, resaltando
que, sin embargo, las bases teóricas que provocaron dicho cambio apenas han sido modificadas. Asimismo,
se realiza una llamada de atención sobre la presente complacencia por la perspectiva tecnológica que, paradójicamente
y en contra de sus fundamentos, está restringiendo notablemente la comprensión de este lapso del Paleolítico
Superior europeo y manteniéndolo dentro de la antigua concepción particularista. Esta situación parece
provocada por la ausencia de reflexión en torno a los términos manejados en el estudio del Paleolítico Superior.
Palabras clave: Cultura. Complejo. Tecnocomplejo. Particularismo. Perigordiense. Gravetiense.

Abstract
This article gives a historiographic overview of the evolution of the concept of Gravettian, showing how the perception
of this phenomenon has changed. It was originally regarded as a culture, but is now considered to be a technocomplex,
despite the fact that the overall theoretical base has hardly changed. The article also advocates caution with regard to
the current popularity of the technological perspective, which, paradoxically, restricts the understanding of this period
of the European Upper Paleolithic to the old sphere of particularism. This situation appears to be the result of a lack
of precision as regards Upper Paleolithic terminology.
Key words: Culture. Complex. Technocomplex. Particularism. Perigordian. Gravettian.

In autumn 2012, samples were taken from three sieidi stones in order to test blood residue analysis as a method for identifying marks of Sámi sacrifi cial practices. Prior to the fi eldwork, test samples were taken from stones that the authors smeared with blood and left outside fi rst for six and then for fi ve more months. Altogether 19 samples from sieidi stones were analysed. Prior research has not concentrated on blood traces on stones that are exposed to sunlight. The analyses using mass spectrometry revealed that blood proteins could be identifi ed in the test stones. There were nevertheless indications of a rapid disintegration of the blood proteins when exposed to open-air conditions. All the samples from sieidi stones gave a negative result. Currently it is unclear whether the degradation of blood proteins has exceeded the detection limit of the method, or whether sacrifi cial practices at those sites did not include blood offerings.

ABSTRACTIn 2014, the Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC) conducted a sexual harassment survey of its membership. The survey's goal was to investigate whether sexual harassment had occurred among its members, and if so, to document the rate and demographics of harassment. Our findings include a high (66%) level of harassment, primarily among women, with an additional 13% of respondents reporting sexual assault. This article provides an overview of the survey and responses. Additionally, we analyze survey data aimed at capturing change over time in harassment and assault, correlation between field and non-field tasks and harassment and assault, and correlation between gender of supervisor and harassment and assault. We also discuss the effects of harassment and assault on careers. We conclude with suggestions for decreasing the rate of harassment and assault and urge professional archaeological organizations to document sexual harassment and assault to mitigate the effec...

La collezione di Evangelista Gorga, costituitasi a cavallo fra il XIX e il XX secolo, custodisce, tra le pieghe dell' immensa ed eterogenea mole di oggetti, un interessante e variegato scorcio di storie. La straordinaria parabola di vita del suo artefice, primo interprete assoluto di Rodolfo ne La Boh\ue8me di Puccini e poi collezionista enciclopedico e quasi seriale, e l'interessante, spesso stravagante, palinsesto di materiali che costituiva la sua raccolta, ha, negli ultimi vent;anni, attirato l'9;attenzione degli archeologici nel tentativo di restituire coerenza al contesto e di scandagliare al contempo i complessi avvenimenti che ne avevano caratterizzato l'acquisizione da parte dello stato e le successive alterne vicende. Vengono presentati i risultati dellì';indagine incrociata sui materiali e testi documentari delle raccolte milanesi avviata nel tentativo di riattribuire la corretta pertinenza dei materiali ma soprattutto come spunto per riflettere sul significato oggi delle collezioni didattiche e sul loro importante ruolo nella formazione dei giovani archeologi

The presentation details a theory of cultural change in regards of archaeology and especially the anthropogenic material culture. It considers the major elements of a cultural change (environment, human, anthropogenic material culture, present day perspective) in a single, wide-ranging description. The aim of such an attempt is to balance the meaning for present-day archaeologists and scholars of humanities between the above mentioned variables, which equally influence cultural change.

This paper discusses the interaction between academic archaeology and the public sphere, specifically the ability of community initiatives, modern technology and social media to open access to knowledge, but also acknowledging the dangers that this brings.