Formalization of scientific process and conceptual modelling for the study of territorial and products distribution dynamics (ArchaeDyn II programme)
Résumé
The ArchaeDyn team has investigated territorial dynamics by comparing areas over long time spans between the Neolithic and Modern times. Datasets on various themes have been shared and indicators and analytical models produced. This paper presents both the formalization of the scientific process used in the ArchaeDyn programme and a conceptual model of the systems and components so that synchronic and diachronic comparisons can be made. The aim is to clarify the transition from an archaeological feature (a site or an artefact) or a recording unit (survey area) as the input, to the characterization of spaces describing a system as the output. The approach is described by the successive steps corresponding to semantic, spatial or temporal analytical processes from the prospecting level to the level of complex objects such as the territories and spaces under study. These complex objects¬-- consumption areas, agricultural areas and settlement patterns--are the subsystems in the dynamics of human territorial occupation. The main contribution of this formalization is that it describes synthetically the hypotheses tested and the approach implemented. In addition, it provides a collective validation of the research team's reasoning.