Meeting Pasts Halfway: A Consideration of the Ontology of Material Evidence in Archaeology Andrew Meirion Jones Archaeologists have been remarkably consistent in their characterisation of material evidence: it is conceived as the material trace of past human activity. This paper seeks to question this by focusing on the ontological character of material culture as evidence. To do this it is important that we reconsider the role of evidence in relation to the archaeologist describing and framing that evidence. I argue that evidence emerges through a process of intra-activity between materials and archaeological analysts. I examine how processes of intra-activity shaped excavation and post-excavation analysis of materials from the rock art sites of Torbhlaren, Scotland.
