Cyber-Archaeology as epistemology
information, interaction and simulation in contemporary archaeology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31239/d14ra473Keywords:
Cyber-Archaeology, Cybernetics, Virtual reality, Digital simulation, InformationAbstract
The present text discusses the conceptual trajectory of Cybernetics from its academic formulation in the twentieth century to its incorporation into the archaeological field through Cyber-Archaeology. Beginning with an analysis of Cybernetics as the study of processes of control, communication, and feedback in complex systems, highlighting its origins in military, aeronautical, and computational research developed during the Second World War, we focus on the formulations of Norbert Wiener to demonstrate how concepts such as feedback, information, and entropy came to influence different fields of knowledge, including Biology, Psychology, Robotics, and Social Sciences. We then examine the cultural expansion of Cybernetics through automation, the concept of the cyborg, and the emergence of cyberculture, emphasizing the growing integration between humans and digital systems. We also address the role of information, embodiment, and virtuality in the constitution of interactive digital environments, with emphasis on Virtual Reality as a form of immersive simulation. Finally, we present Cyber-Archaeology as an epistemological approach that surpasses Virtual Archaeology by proposing dynamic, interactive, and interpretative digital environments in which archaeological knowledge is produced through continuous interaction between data, digital models, simulation, and the user.
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