The aim of the article is to reframe speculation from being seen as synonymous with unacademic conjecture, or as a means for questioning consensus and established narratives, to becoming a productive practical engagement with the archaeological and responding to its intrinsic uncertainties. In the first part of the article, we offer a review of speculation in the history of archaeological reasoning. In the second part, we proceed to discussing ways of embracing the speculative mandate, referring back to our engagements with the art/archaeology project Ineligible and reflections on how to work with the unknowns and uncertainties of archaeology. In the third and last part, we conclude by making the case for fertilizing the archaeological potential nested in the empirical encounter, creating more inceptions than conclusions, fostering ambiguities, contradictions and new spaces of experiential inquiry. This leads us to suggest that—when working with the archaeological—speculation should be seen not only as a privilege, but also as an obligation, due to the inherent and inescapable uncertainties of the discipline. In other words, archaeology has been given a mandate for speculation through its material engagements.

本文的目的是重新定义推测，使其不再被视为非学术猜想的同义词，或者被视为质疑共识和既定叙述的手段，而成为与考古学进行富有成效的实际接触并对其内在不确定性做出反应的方式。在文章的第一部分，我们回顾了考古推理史上的推测。在第二部分中，我们继续讨论接受推测性任务的方式，回顾我们对艺术/考古学项目Ineligible的参与，并反思如何应对考古学的未知性和不确定性。在第三部分也是最后一部分中，我们通过论证在经验遭遇中激发考古潜力，创造更多的开端而不是结论，培育模糊性、矛盾和经验探究的新空间。这使我们认为，在从事考古工作时，由于该学科固有的、不可避免的不确定性，推测不仅应被视为一种特权，而且还应被视为一种义务。换句话说，考古学被赋予了通过其物质活动进行推测的使命。