hecho arqueológico

English translation: archaeological phenomenon

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:hecho arqueológico
English translation:archaeological phenomenon
Entered by: Charles Davis

09:41 Sep 4, 2018
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Archaeology / Cultural archaeology
Spanish term or phrase: hecho arqueológico
Amigos, su apoyo por favor. ¿Qué significa y cómo se traduce la frase "hecho arqueológico" en lo siguiente (de una tesis de Bolivia, traduciendo para Europa)?:

En mi opinión todo este conjunto de elementos inherentes a lo que es Comunidad, es también arqueología, como una arqueología del pensamiento útil al arqueólogo, porque le permitirá comprender mejor los conceptos generadores y fundadores del hecho arqueológico...

He visto otros ejemplos de esta frase en internet, pero igual no me queda claro el significado:

pretenden aportar una nueva forma de acercamiento al hecho arqueológico desde. la objetividad, la riqueza de matices y el rigor...

accidentes físicos que rodean un hecho arqueológico determinado, tiene gran importancia para entender la manera como una comunidad consumió o utilizó...

en los cuatro últimos puntos realiza una crítica de las interpretaciones populares de la prehistoria a partir de su imagen física: el hecho arqueológico.

¡Gracias!
DIANNE BEREST
Montenegro
Local time: 09:57
archaeological phenomenon
Explanation:
Clearly there is such a thing as an archaeological fact. And sometimes that is what "hecho arqueológico" means. However, I don't think that's the case here.

Obviously, in general terms, "hecho" sometimes does and sometimes doesn't mean "fact". To quote the DLE definitions (which are not as helpful as they might be), hecho (noun) can mean:

"4. m. Acción u obra.
5. m. Cosa que sucede.
6. m. Asunto o materia de que se trata."
http://dle.rae.es/?id=K4rxA9a

Thus "hechos" can be facts (atenerse a los hechos), but they can also be deeds or acts (Los Hechos de los Apóstoles) or events (hechos que cambiaron la historia).

And sometimes none of these translations is right. What about "Introducción al Hecho Religioso", an academic subject in Spain? It's not religious fact or deed or event. It really means religion itself, and that's how I would normally translate it:
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/religion/14359...
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/education-peda...

But if you had to choose a word for "hecho" in "hecho religioso", I think it would be "phenomenon". It means the phenomenon of religion, and one of the answers to the first of the questions just cited used that word.

"Fact", in English, almost invariably means truth, or expresses truth value. Fact is opposed to fiction or falsehood, or to theory, or to speculation. An archaeological fact is not a physical thing, it is an abstract truth supported by evidence. And in Spanish it is called an "hecho arqueológico".

The impeccable source Adriana has cited refers to archaeological facts:

"This is why the archaeologist’s field notes and his published report become primary archaeological documents. They are not themselves, strictly speaking, archaeological facts: they are the excavator’s interpretation of what he saw, or thought he saw, but this is the nearest the discipline can ever get to archaeological facts as established by excavation."
https://www.britannica.com/science/archaeology

Archaeological facts here are truths of an archaeological nature, truths about the past supported by archaeological evidence. When it says that "this is the nearest the discipline can ever get to archaeological facts as established by excavation", it means the objective truth about the past.

But in your text it seems to me that "los conceptos generadores y fundadores del hecho arqueológico" is not referring to the concepts that generate archaeological fact. "Hecho" here is being used in a sense similar to "hecho religioso". It means an archaeological phenomenon, something that archaeologists investigate and that requires consideration of all sorts of evidence.

It is notable that "archaeological fact" is not an expression you tend to find English-speaking archaeologists using in this sense when discussing of the modern epistemology of archaeology. When they do use it they simply mean archaeological truths supported by evidence. But they do use "archaeological phenomena" to express the broader, post-positivist conception of archaeology that I think "hecho arqueológico" refers to:

"Very much more difficult issues arise when we seek to understand the ways in which time (and the playing-out of complex formation processes over time) can structure archaeological phenomena—literally the things archaeologists observe and seek to understand and explain.
[...]
If one takes a different view, however, about the distinctiveness of archaeological epistemology [...] then a consideration of a distinctive archaeological ontology is more than justified—if only to emphasize that such theories may well require substantial transformation in order to capture the different essences of archaeological phenomena."
https://books.google.es/books?id=xq4rNwV0w44C&pg=PA170&lpg=P... (pp. 170, 177).
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 09:57
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4Archaeological fact
Adriana Pardo de Iriondo
4 +4archaeological phenomenon
Charles Davis
5archaeological fact
Jon Maurell


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Archaeological fact


Explanation:
Hope it helps


    Reference: http://www.britannica.com/science/archaeology
Adriana Pardo de Iriondo
Uruguay
Local time: 05:57
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Gracias Adriana. Puede ser y por el momento lo tengo así. Pero veo que en internet, en inglés, esa frase se usa más como: archaeological "fact" (entre paréntesis)- como para decir que en realidad no son hechos, mientras que en español no parece que se utiliza de esa forma.

Asker: Thanks Adriana and all who commented.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: The author hasn't used quotation marks, and neither should the translator.
56 mins

agree  JohnMcDove
3 hrs

agree  Martha Schwan: Perfect
3 hrs

agree  Jorge Barriuso Aguirre
2 days 20 hrs
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
archaeological phenomenon


Explanation:
Clearly there is such a thing as an archaeological fact. And sometimes that is what "hecho arqueológico" means. However, I don't think that's the case here.

Obviously, in general terms, "hecho" sometimes does and sometimes doesn't mean "fact". To quote the DLE definitions (which are not as helpful as they might be), hecho (noun) can mean:

"4. m. Acción u obra.
5. m. Cosa que sucede.
6. m. Asunto o materia de que se trata."
http://dle.rae.es/?id=K4rxA9a

Thus "hechos" can be facts (atenerse a los hechos), but they can also be deeds or acts (Los Hechos de los Apóstoles) or events (hechos que cambiaron la historia).

And sometimes none of these translations is right. What about "Introducción al Hecho Religioso", an academic subject in Spain? It's not religious fact or deed or event. It really means religion itself, and that's how I would normally translate it:
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/religion/14359...
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/education-peda...

But if you had to choose a word for "hecho" in "hecho religioso", I think it would be "phenomenon". It means the phenomenon of religion, and one of the answers to the first of the questions just cited used that word.

"Fact", in English, almost invariably means truth, or expresses truth value. Fact is opposed to fiction or falsehood, or to theory, or to speculation. An archaeological fact is not a physical thing, it is an abstract truth supported by evidence. And in Spanish it is called an "hecho arqueológico".

The impeccable source Adriana has cited refers to archaeological facts:

"This is why the archaeologist’s field notes and his published report become primary archaeological documents. They are not themselves, strictly speaking, archaeological facts: they are the excavator’s interpretation of what he saw, or thought he saw, but this is the nearest the discipline can ever get to archaeological facts as established by excavation."
https://www.britannica.com/science/archaeology

Archaeological facts here are truths of an archaeological nature, truths about the past supported by archaeological evidence. When it says that "this is the nearest the discipline can ever get to archaeological facts as established by excavation", it means the objective truth about the past.

But in your text it seems to me that "los conceptos generadores y fundadores del hecho arqueológico" is not referring to the concepts that generate archaeological fact. "Hecho" here is being used in a sense similar to "hecho religioso". It means an archaeological phenomenon, something that archaeologists investigate and that requires consideration of all sorts of evidence.

It is notable that "archaeological fact" is not an expression you tend to find English-speaking archaeologists using in this sense when discussing of the modern epistemology of archaeology. When they do use it they simply mean archaeological truths supported by evidence. But they do use "archaeological phenomena" to express the broader, post-positivist conception of archaeology that I think "hecho arqueológico" refers to:

"Very much more difficult issues arise when we seek to understand the ways in which time (and the playing-out of complex formation processes over time) can structure archaeological phenomena—literally the things archaeologists observe and seek to understand and explain.
[...]
If one takes a different view, however, about the distinctiveness of archaeological epistemology [...] then a consideration of a distinctive archaeological ontology is more than justified—if only to emphasize that such theories may well require substantial transformation in order to capture the different essences of archaeological phenomena."
https://books.google.es/books?id=xq4rNwV0w44C&pg=PA170&lpg=P... (pp. 170, 177).

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 09:57
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 116
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you Charles. I think this might be the idea, but I'm just not sure what the author actually intended to express.

Asker: Looks like I can no longer add to the discussion, so I'll use this space to thank everyone. As far as I can tell so far, as Sara Fairen says in the discussion, the Spanish phrase seems to be used in a couple of different ways. That makes it hard, and maybe actually incorrect, to choose a single English translation. I also thought of "archaeological record" and in some cases maybe even "archaeological theory". Thanks everyone again for your contributions.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Thomas Walker: Although I'm not conversant with contemporary archaeological literature, this sounds right to me.
57 mins
  -> Thanks a lot, Tom :-) I can't say I've read a lot of it. I've translated a few things in this area that discuss the theory.

agree  Sara Fairen
4 hrs
  -> Thanks very much, Sara!

agree  Robert Forstag
18 hrs
  -> Thank you, Robert!

agree  Denise Phelps
20 hrs
  -> Many thanks, Denise :-)
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
archaeological fact


Explanation:
Hecho= commonly used to mean facts
arqueologico= archaeological

Jon Maurell
United States
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Jon!

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