Jeremy Huggett (University of Glasgow, UK)

This paper will briefly examine the relationship between archaeology,
archaeological theory, and technological representations of
archaeological knowledge using GIS. A number of archaeologists have
referred to the link between GIS technologies and archaeological theory
and practice but it is important that we understand this connection and,
furthermore, that those connections are actually borne out in reality -
that the models we use really do represent the theories we started out
with, bearing in mind the fact that a GIS will (almost) always produce a
picture but whether or not it has any meaning or value is an entirely
different matter. In particular, this paper will discuss the spatial and
temporal constructs used in GIS and their association or otherwise with
archaeological constructs of the past, and propose that both are
problematic.