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.

本文的目的是将推测从被视为非学术猜想的同义词，或作为质疑共识和既定叙事的手段，重新构建为与考古学的富有成效的实际参与并回应其内在的不确定性。在文章的第一部分，我们对考古推理史上的推测进行了回顾。在第二部分，我们继续讨论接受思辨任务的方法，回顾我们与艺术/考古项目 Ineligible 的参与，以及对如何应对考古学的未知和不确定性的思考。在第三部分也是最后一部分，我们总结了在实证相遇中嵌套的考古潜力，创造更多的开始而不是结论，培养了模棱两可、矛盾和经验探究的新空间。这让我们建议，在与考古学合作时，由于该学科固有的和不可避免的不确定性，推测不仅应该被视为一种特权，而且应该被视为一种义务。换句话说，考古学通过其物质参与被赋予了投机的任务。