Journal | World Archaeology |
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Date | Accepted/In press - 20 Jan 2021 |
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Date | E-pub ahead of print - 22 Feb 2021 |
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Date | Published (current) - 1 May 2021 |
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Issue number | 4 |
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Volume | 52 |
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Pages (from-to) | 607-618 |
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Early online date | 22/02/21 |
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Original language | English |
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Cybercrime is ubiquitous. People now inhabit a digital environment comprising permanent risk, exponential threats, and multiple virtual/physical harms, forming a global community of malefactors and the criminally exploited. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, through an archaeological lens, to characterize the new materiality of cybercrime (including its artefacts and architecture alongside digital/virtual manifestations). And second, to explore the potential for new perspectives on cybercrime borne out of this archaeological approach. In short: what is the archaeology of cybercrime and can new understandings emerge from an archaeological perspective? In undertaking this research we also challenge the long-held presumption that non-physical traces cannot be studied archaeologically. It is our contention that they can.