Abstract
The notion of ontology in archaeology is often linked to the imple- mentation of FAIR (Easy to Find, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusa- ble) principles, as ontology-based tools allow heterogeneous data- bases to be connected in order to share and exploit them on a large scale. Nevertheless, using ontology is not only a pragmatic issue. Ontology allows the study of the properties of what is, i.e., what is recognised as having an existence, a duration, a becoming. There- fore, recognizing the existence of an archaeological object is to specify the properties that we grant it according to 1) the observa- tions and 2) the reasoning based on several material and ideal di- mensions. Such an approach questions the conceptual framework within which we develop a spatial model in which archaeological objects with geographical and social entities are interacting. This paper focuses on such a heuristic dimension of ontology. Although Jean-Luc Fiches, in his own words, was not "really a man of concepts", he was strongly involved in these ontological issues within the Transmondyn project.