From Clovis to Göbekli Tepe: Knowledge Transfer, Specialisation and its Effects on Cultural Memory

Abstract

The following article analyses the effects of knowledge transfer and specialisation of digital society on cultural memory. Firstly, it questions Assman’s hypothesis that cultural memory is ‘transcendent’ and instead argues for a concept of temporal continuity with regard to the contemporary communicative memory. Secondly, it outlines that the process of decoding the identity-function of cultural memory has become increasingly complex due to specialisation and fragmentation. Thirdly, it gives examples of recent misrepresentations of identity-formation and cultural memory in the petroglyphs of the Clovis first hypothesis and Göbekli Tepe and discusses their respective reconfigurations based on transdisciplinary and digital methods as an illustration of the effects of specialisation and knowledge exchange on cultural memory. Fourthly, it situates the findings within the context of emerging knowledge exchange ecosystems.