The Archaeological Record as Information and Entropy

Abstract

The archaeological record is information left in artifacts and biofacts from an extinct culture. It is the result of a process of growth of entropy in the site, which destroys the structures of culture. I theorize on archaeological information and archaeological entropy – the missing information about the site. From archaeological record to virtual reconstruction, information is extracted from the entropy of the extinct cultural form/process in the archaeological record. Archaeological entropy is differential and depends on the material, not the culture.