Form, function and descriptive analysis in archaeology

Central to the arguments developed in the paper is an examination of the relationships between advance in archaeological methods and theory and development of descriptive language used in computer applications. Starting from the lesson of J.-Cl. Gardin the paper will investigate the main steps relating to the problems of data formalisation in archaeology. Focusing on contextual approach to the interpretation of archaeological data, attention will paid to the role of computer application in representing and exploring the complexity of social behaviour hidden in stratigraphic datasets.