Acts of Discovery: Extract: …beneath the moving blade of the trowel

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A and D are trowelling over a surface area of about 8 x 5 m, taking off a spit of 2-3 cms of soil, in order to locate and delineate the outline of a ring-ditch which has recently been discovered. Because of the similarity in colour and consistency between the ditch-fill and the surrounding brick-earth, this outline is very indistinct and difficult to see. In order to follow the cut along, A continually steps back from her work to look at the ring-ditch from a distance, then returns to detailed trowelling. In the centre of the area enclosed by the ring-ditch are 3 cremation-pits. One has been completely excavated, its contents removed; the other two have been half-sectioned and still contain cremation vessels. Excavation of these features will continue at a later date, when the more important task of delineating the enclosing ring-ditch has been accomplished.

(Recorded Event 40)

If it is possible in theory to draw a clear distinction between the objects of knowledge on the one hand, and the knowledge of objects which subjects possess on the other hand, things are not so clear-cut in practice. For when the troweller is actively engaged in a material transaction the intentum - the entity intended - and the intentio- the act of intending in which the worker is engaged - are, as it were, two sides of the same coin. While it is actually being worked, the material field itself has an intentional structure, for it is imbued with meaning in relation to the very projects and tasks that are brought to bear upon it. The material background and the worker's background knowledge together form the horizon within which the object emerges, takes form and stands out as an object of significance.

One of the most important characteristics of (the worker's knowledge and perception of) the material field is its changeability. If we stood directly behind A and looked over her shoulder, for example, we would see that the focus of her attention is not the material field as a whole, but rather the small area of ground which is being worked over at that moment. Most of the material field uncovered so far has, as it were, receded into the background. In this small area, beneath the moving blade of the trowel, emerging objects (such as the continuation of the ring-ditch outline) are being transformed into pre-constituted objects, which can be left behind as A moves backwards, and objects yet-to-emerge are being simultaneously brought to light as emerging objects. Her attention is fixed, not so much on the part of the material field which is fully visible and already known, but rather on that part which is emerging, is in a state of incipience, and is actually in the process of becoming known.

The troweller's labour is orientated, therefore, primarily towards the future - that is, towards anticipated objects yet to emerge. Each scraping action with the trowel is motivated by a set of objectives, or points to which the troweller aims and works, and is based upon a set of predictions as to what is likely to be found.

But if every scraping action with the trowel is based upon predictions, every such action is also a testing of predictions. And the general character of objects-yet-to-emerge is that their precise form, the exact configuration they will take in actuality, can never be fully predicted in advance. Thus the ring-ditch outline being followed along by A does not always emerge as anticipated, but frequently veers away from its expected course, or disappears altogether. In these instances A has to modify ongoing strategy - to trowel deeper, to move to one side, to go back over work already done, etc - that is, to actively search for the recaltritant pattern. It is precisely this unexpectedness and recaltritance of the unfolding material field that gives the present moment its sense of immediacy; the present can be defined as the direct contact or encounter with a world which is not entirely shaped by past actions and anticipations of the future - and which therefore always has the capacity to surprise.

The fact that the world as encountered presents a degree of resistance to the projects, purposes and plans that are brought to bear upon it will be crucial to our understanding of the act of discovery.

(shortened extract from 4.2)

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