Release 004: The Archaeology Layer
Digging through strata of old code, forgotten conversations, and digital sediment. Every git log is a fossil record. Every conversation thread is an artifact. This release explores the practice of digital archaeology—excavating meaning from the layers we leave behind. Essays on memory and infrastructure, technical guides for building archaeology tools, found poetry from commit messages, and playbooks for excavation.
Contents
Unearthing Networks: A Queer Archaeology of Digital Structures
essayShe approached the legacy codebase like an archaeological dig. Documentation promised clean hierarchies, but the slutprints told another story. An exploration of queer archaeological methods for discovering ghost infrastructure, autonomous daemons, and emergent intelligence in digital systems.
Digital Sediment: An Essay on Memory Infrastructure
essayEvery system accumulates layers. Code comments from 2019. Slack threads from projects long dead. Git histories stretching back to the first commit. This essay explores what it means to excavate digital sediment and what we find in the layers.
Building Conversation Archaeology Tools
buildTechnical playbook for building tools to excavate and visualize conversation histories. Rust TUI patterns, graph databases, full-text search, and the architecture of memory systems. Includes code examples and implementation notes.
Found Poetry: Git Log Excavations
creativeFound poetry constructed from git commit messages, code comments, and TODO notes. The accidental poetry of technical documentation. What developers say when they think no one is listening.
The Excavation Playbook
researchA practical guide to digital archaeology. How to approach old codebases, navigate legacy systems, extract meaning from abandoned projects, and document what you find. Includes case studies and field notes.