Abstract In the 21st century, advances in computer science have impacted archaeology, most recently in the development of automated algorithms. Like most technology, these methods have been the source of ongoing debate, particularly in their utility for archaeology. Here, I focus on a contribution of automation and machine learning in archaeology that is often overlooked: the ability of computer algorithms to codify unambiguous, semantically consistent definitions. Archaeology has long struggled with establishing consistent characterizations of the phenomena it studies. As such, I argue that the procedures used for automated methods are useful for archaeologists – even outside of automated analyses – by allowing for the creation of consistent definitions which permit for reproducible research designs.

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定义研究内容：机器自动化在考古研究中的贡献

摘要在21世纪，计算机科学的发展对考古学产生了影响，最近一次是在自动化算法的发展中。与大多数技术一样，这些方法一直是争论的源头，特别是在考古实用性方面。在这里，我重点介绍自动化和机器学习在考古学中经常被忽视的贡献：计算机算法将明确的，语义上一致的定义编成代码的能力。考古学一直在努力为其研究的现象建立一致的表征。因此，我认为，通过允许创建一致的定义以允许可重复的研究设计，自动化方法所使用的程序对于考古学家（甚至在自动化分析之外）都是有用的。