Fostering Collaborative Synthetic Research in Archaeology

Abstract

While our fascination with understanding the past is sufficient to warrant an increased focus on synthesis, solutions to important problems facing modern society require understandings based on data that only archaeology can provide. Yet, even as we use public monies to collect ever-greater amounts of data, modes of research that can stimulate emergent understandings of human behavior have lagged behind. Consequently, a substantial amount of archaeological inference remains at the level of the individual project. We can more effectively leverage these data and advance our understandings of the past in ways that contribute to solutions to contemporary problems if we adapt the model pioneered by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis to foster synthetic collaborative research in archaeology. We propose the creation of the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis coordinated through a U.S.-based National Center for Archaeological Synthesis. The coalition will be composed of established public and private organizations that provide essential scholarly, cultural heritage, computational, educational, and public engagement infrastructure. The center would seek and administer funding to support collaborative analysis and synthesis projects executed through coalition partners. This innovative structure will enable the discipline to address key challenges facing society through evidentially based, collaborative synthetic research.

Zooarchaeological Database Preservation, Multiscalar Data Integration, and the Collaboration of the Eastern Archaic Faunal Working Group

“…Although synthesis has been done by individual archaeologists, collaborative synthetic research, such as that of the EAFWG, takes advantage of the diverse skills and perspectives of multiple researchers working on the same problem. We agree with Altschul and colleagues (2017, 2018) that a collaborative approach facilitates synthetic, macro-level analysis.…”

“…The significance of collaboration should be recognized in institutional evaluations for tenure and promotion. Structures, such as those proposed by Altschul and colleagues (2017, 2018), and other creative mechanisms that promote collaboration need to be further developed within our discipline.…”

“…As archaeology has experienced an “explosion of systematically collected archaeological data” (Kintigh et al 2014:19), curation—including digital curation—has become a priority for our discipline. Several recent articles (e.g., Altschul et al 2017, 2018; Kintigh et al 2017) have identified related concerns about database preservation and management, synthesis and integration of digital data, open access, and collaboration among archaeological scholars. More broadly, profound social transformations regarding information, data, and access affect all subfields of archaeology (Kansa 2015; Kansa and Kansa 2018; Kintigh 2006, 2018; Kintigh et al 2017; Lake 2012; LeFebvre et al 2019; McManamon et al 2017; Snow et al 2006).…”

Rediscovering lessons of adaptation from the past

“…A challenge in this type of publication is to ensure that papers are framed and written in a suitable way to synthesise historical and natural scientific data into concise research articles that highlight the relevance of long-term perspectives and the lessons learned from past societies (Altschul et al, 2017).…”

Data Integration in the Service of Synthetic Research

“…Achieving the kinds of synthesis envisioned here requires the resolution of both technical and social problems (explored initially in Kintigh 2006 and Kintigh et al 2015 and in more detail in Altschul et al 2017, nd). This article focuses on one particular problem, achieving effective integration of data across multiple datasets.…”