Is an archaeological contribution to the theory of social science possible? Archaeological data and concepts in the dispute between Jean-Claude Gardin and Jean-Claude Passeron

The issue of the definition and position of archaeology as a discipline is examined in relation to the dispute which took place from 1980 to 2009 between the archaeologist Jean-Claude Gardin and the sociologist Jean-Claude Passeron. This case study enables us to explore the actual conceptual relationships between archaeology and the other sciences (as opposed to those wished for or prescribed). The contrasts between the positions declared by the two researchers and the rooting of their arguments in their disciplines are examined: where the sociologist makes use of his philosophical training, the archaeologist relies mainly on his work on semiology and informatics. Archaeology ultimately plays a minor role in the arguments proposed. This dispute therefore cannot be considered as evidence for the movement of concepts between archaeology and the social sciences. A blind spot in the debate, relating to the ontological specificities of archaeological objects, nevertheless presents itself as a possible way of implementing this movement

Refrain from Standards? French, Cavemen and Computers. A (short) Story of Multidimensional Analysis in French Prehistoric Archaeology

Focusing on the history of prehistoric archaeology in the 20th century, this papers shows (1) that statistical multidimensional analyses were carried out by a new kind of actors who challenged the previous common language shared by prehistorians. This fundamental change was important, considering that (2) language is a fundamental point for the epistemology of archaeology. However, a comparison of multidimensional analyses applications over time shall make clear that (3) the differences are mostly a generational matter: the transmission processes between them will be addressed

The Professionalisation of Science – Claim and Refusal: Discipline Building and Ideals of Scientific Autonomy in the Growth of Prehistoric Archaeology. The Case of Georges Laplace's Group of Typologie Analytique, 1950s–1990s

The majority of analyses investigating the professionalisation of scientific domains tend to assume the linear and general features of this transformation. These studies focus on the shift from a non-professionalised state to a professionalised state. This dual approach, however, crucially lacks some other aspects of the process of professionalisation. This issue is discussed within the context of the growth of prehistoric archaeology in France from the 1940s, by observing scientific societies, national research organisations and their social networks. Looking at the scale of Georges Laplace’s career and that of his research group, which studied the typologie analytique method, this article demonstrates the benefits of a ternary model which also encompasses the modes of refusal of professionalisation

Abstraction in Archaeological Stratigraphy: a Pyrenean Lineage of Innovation (late 19th-early 21th century)

Methodological innovations have a special status in disciplinary histories, because they can be widely adopted and anonymised. In the 1950s, this occurred to Georges Laplace's innovative use of 3-dimensional metric Cartesian coordinate system to record the positions of archaeological objects. This paper proposes a conceptual and social history of this process, with a focus on its spatial context, the Pyrenean region (Spain, Basque Country, and France). Main results of this research based on archives, publications, and bibliometric data, include: 1) a critical discussion of the notions concerning authorship of such methodological innovations; 2) a presentation of the lesser-known aspects of Laplace’s method, showing its contribution to the abstraction and formalisation of archaeological observations and data recording; and 3) the identification of an international Pyrenean intellectual lineage of innovation regarding stratigraphy and excavation methods, from the late 19th century to the early 21th century.Les innovations méthodologiques, pouvant être largement adoptées et anonymisées, possèdent un statut particulier dans les historiographies disciplinaires. Ce fut le cas du système de coordonnées Cartésiens métriques employé dès les années 1950 par Georges Laplace pour enregistrer la position des objets archéologiques. Fondé sur ce cas, et accordant une attention particulière à son contexte spatial - l’espace international pyrénéen (Espagne, Pays Basque, France) - cet article propose une histoire conceptuelle et sociale de ce processus. Les résultats de cette recherche, basée sur les publications, des archives, et des données bibliométriques, comprennent : 1) une approche critique de l’attribution d’autorité dans le cas des innovations méthodologiques ; 2) l’analyse d’aspects plus méconnus de la méthode Laplace, et leur contribution au processus d’abstraction et de formalisation des observations et de l’enregistrement des données en archéologie ; 3) la mise en évidence, de la fin du XIXe siècle au début du XXIe siècle, d’un lignage pyrénéen international d’innovation.Las innovaciones metodológicas, que pueden ser ampliamente adoptadas y anonimizadas, tienen un estatus especial en las historiografías disciplinarias. Así, desde los años 1950, Georges Laplace ha utilizado un sistema de coordenadas métricas cartesianas para registrar la posición de los objetos arqueológicos. A partir de este caso, y prestando especial atención a su contexto espacial - el espacio pirenaico internacional (España, País Vasco, Francia) -, este artículo propone una historia conceptual y social de este proceso. Los resultados de esta investigación, basada en publicaciones, archivos y datos bibliométricos, incluyen: 1) un enfoque crítico del reconocimiento de la autoría en el caso de las innovaciones metodológicas; 2) el análisis de los aspectos menos conocidos del método Laplace, y su contribución al proceso de abstracción y formalización tanto de las observaciones como del registrode datos arqueologícos; 3) la identificación, desde finales del siglo XIX hasta principios del siglo XXI, de un linaje pirenaico internacional de innovación

A Co-authorship Network Analysis of National and International Growth in Prehistoric Archaeology, Italy (1875-2000). Combining Bibliometric and Qualitative Data in History of Science Research

This paper examines the national and international growth of prehistoric archaeology in Italy from 1875 to 2000. A bibliometric approach is proposed for a case study of a scientific discipline, language and period that are poorly represented in current bibliographic databases. These constraints led to the generation of a data set with articles from 5 journals (2842 articles and 1221 unique authors). Publication language and author nationalities were manually included in the data set. Journal internationality measures and co-authorship network analyses showed: 1) that internationalisation was not the most striking change over the study period: it was one of a number of features that journal editors addressed in their own way; 2) results confirm a change in the social organisation of scientific production in archaeology, with the emergence of co-authorship and reflect the differentiation of local research trends. This is discussed with reference to previous work on the history of prehistoric archaeology

What Makes the Identity of a Scientific Method? A History of the “Structural and Analytical Typology” in the Growth of Evolutionary and Digital Archaeology in Southwestern Europe (1950s–2000s)

Usual narratives among prehistoric archaeologists consider typological approaches as part of a past and outdated episode in the history of research, subsequently replaced by technological, functional, chemical, and cognitive approaches. From a historical and conceptual perspective, this paper addresses several limits of these narratives, which (1) assume a linear, exclusive, and additive conception of scientific change, neglecting the persistence of typological problems; (2) reduce collective developments to personal work (e.g. the “Bordes’” and “Laplace’s” methods in France); and (3) presuppose the coherence and identity of these “methods” over time. It explores the case of the “Structural and analytical typology” method, developed in France, Spain, and Italy from the 1950s to the 2000s by Georges Laplace and his collaborators for lithic implements. This paper (1) provides a detailed historical account of the evolving content of this collective endeavour over five decades; (2) it addresses the epistemological question of what makes the identity and unity of a scientific method, demonstrating that the core component of the “analytical typology” lies in its particular way to represent real-world phenomena through its notation system; and (3) it reveals how this little known but significant episode of advances in the methods and theory of archaeology, contemporary but independent of the “New Archaeology” trend in English-speaking archaeology, was instrumental in the continuation of evolutionary perspectives in France and in the development of quantitative and formal methods in archaeology in southwestern Europe, foreseeing crucial knowledge representation issues raised today by digital methods in archaeology and data curation

Abstraction in Archaeological Stratigraphy: a Pyrenean Lineage of Innovation (late 19th-early 21th century)

Methodological innovations have a special status in disciplinary histories, because they can be widely adopted and anonymised. In the 1950s, this occurred to Georges Laplace’s innovative use of 3-dimensional metric Cartesian coordinate system to record the positions of archaeological objects. This paper proposes a conceptual and social history of this process, with a focus on its spatial context, the Pyrenean region (Spain, Basque Country, and France). Main results of this research based on archives, publications, and bibliometric data, include: 1) a critical discussion of the notions concerning authorship of such methodological innovations; 2) a presentation of the lesser-known aspects of Laplace’s method, showing its contribution to the abstraction and formalisation of archaeological observations and data recording; and 3) the identification of an international Pyrenean intellectual lineage of innovation regarding stratigraphy and excavation methods, from the late 19th century to the early 21th century

Assyrian Merchants meet Nuclear Physicists: History of the Early Contributions from Social Sciences to Computer Science. The Case of Automatic Pattern Detection in Graphs (1950s-1970s)

Community detection is a major issue in network analysis. This paper combines a socio-historical approach with an experimental reconstruction of programs to investigate the early automation of clique detection algorithms, which remains one of the unsolved NP-complete problems today. The research led by the archaeologist Jean-Claude Gardin from the 1950s on non-numerical information and graph analysis is retraced to demonstrate the early contributions of social sciences and humanities. The limited recognition and reception of Gardin's innovative computer application to the humanities are addressed through two factors, in addition to the effects of historiography and bibliographies on the recording, discoverability, and reuse of scientific productions: (1) funding policies, evidenced by the transfer of research effort on graph applications from temporary interdisciplinary spaces to disciplinary organizations related to the then-emerging field of computer science; and (2) the erratic careers of algorithms, in which efficiency, flaws, corrections, and authors’ status, were determining factors

À distances raisonnables des structuralismes : logique, langage, formalisation et sciences de l’homme. Une dispute du 20e siècle finissant

1. Une dispute épistémologique 1.1 Quatre itinéraires à proximité puis à distance des structuralismes 1.2 Un différend sur les « usages réglés du rationalisme » en sciences de l’homme 2. Les mots et les descriptions en sciences de l’homme 2.1 Une commune limitation du déterminisme linguistique 2.2 Un problème philosophique implicite : descriptions définies et noms propres 2.3 L’usage des descriptions définies en sciences de l’homme 2.4 Les (semi-)noms propres des sciences historiques 2.5 Le degré de généralité des concepts employés et ses conséquences sur les raisonnements 3. La spécificité des raisonnements en sciences de l’homme 3.1 Quelle logique pour raisonner sur les phénomènes humains ? 3.2 Les usages d’une référence commune : la logique naturelle 3.3 Propositions et énoncés : divergences sur l’analyse des raisonnements 4. Le juste degré de formalisation du langage et des raisonnements 4.1 La formalisation des descriptions 4.2 Les modèles et la formalisation des raisonnements 4.3 Des formalisations qui s’ignorent 5. Le caractère historique des sciences de l’homme 5.1 Formaliser implique-t-il de dé-historiciser ? 5.2 Les mécanismes du changement scientifique 5.3 Pragmatique de l’intervention théoriqu

Les documents scientifiques informels: un patrimoine peu exploré, témoin de la construction des savoirs

L'objectif du projet ECRITO était de contribuer à préserver et à valoriser les documents scientifiques produits quotidiennement par les chercheurs de Midi-Pyrénées, en amont des publications formelles : non seulement les articles, communications ou monographies, qui constituent la partie visible de la recherche, mais aussi tous les matériaux et informations accumulés par les chercheurs, et sur la base desquels se construit leur travail. Ces matériaux sont de types très divers : littérature " grise " (rapports, mémoires, documentation techniques...), documents textuels " informels " (carnets, notes, brouillons, correspondances, cahiers de laboratoires), corpus visuels, sonores ou multimédia (campagnes photographiques, campagnes d'enquêtes, enregistrements audio ou vidéo), données électroniques (bases de données, fichiers informatiques), etc. Le projet visait également à prolonger, de manière exploratoire, le questionnement sur le patrimoine scientifique à partir des traces matérielles produites quotidiennement par les chercheurs dans leurs activités de recherche. Ces traces représentent en effet une fenêtre irremplaçable sur la science en train de se construire : elles permettent de rendre visible et compréhensible le processus habituellement dissimulé de production de la science, ce qui constitue un enjeu scientifique et pédagogique fondamental