Archaeological Research 2014 to 2021: an examination of its intellectual base, collaborative networks and conceptual language using science maps

Abstract

A series of six science maps have been created visualising the shape of archaeological research between 2014 and 2021, using metadata from more than 50,000 academic documents. These maps present the intellectual base of the discipline as co-citation networks of sources and of authors, the language of archaeological research as both terms extracted from titles and abstracts and as author keywords, and, lastly, the networks of collaboration created by co-authorship between individuals and institutions. Comparison is made between 2014-2021 and an earlier study examining archaeological research between 2004 and 2013. Archaeology is revealed as a consistently broad and developing subject drawing extensively on methods and approaches from the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. It is intrinsically international in practice. Archaeological research is growing at a rate faster than the average for academic research. While there has been progress towards a more diverse community of researchers among those most highly cited, there remain significant issues in the observable diversity between different research areas within the same discipline and sometimes between similar research specialties. Classifications of archaeology by external bodies fail to grasp this diversity of archaeological research. Finally, diversity in terms variants suggests that there is a pressing need for the discipline to take control of its terminology.