{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp03_full320_20260801","cell_id":"layer_decay_and_expiration_management__archaeology_paleontology","trajectory_id":"R","attempt_index":0,"archetype_slug":"layer_decay_and_expiration_management","domain_slug":"archaeology_paleontology","decision":"CANDIDATE","problem_id":"indefinite_retention_of_legacy_excavation_collections","causal_lever_id":"obligation_gated_collection_tiering_and_deaccession","proposal":{"problem":"Archaeological repositories may indefinitely retain growing legacy excavation collections without consistent review of provenance, obligations, research utility, dependencies, or storage requirements. The resulting backlog can impede access and collections care, while ad hoc disposal can irreversibly destroy unique evidence and community interests.","actors_substrate":["repository curators and collections staff","archaeologists and paleontologists","holding institutions and public agencies","originating, descendant, and Indigenous communities","physical specimens, samples, associated records, and digital derivatives"],"observable_state":"Per collection lot: identity and location completeness, deposition/accession date, last inventory and metadata validation, access frequency, provenance linkage, permits and agreements, community restrictions, research dependencies, condition, volume, tier, review status, and disposition history.","consequence":"HYPOTHESIS: Undifferentiated retention increases space and retrieval burdens and leaves misleading metadata active; ungoverned deaccession risks permanent evidentiary, legal, ethical, and reconstructive loss.","affected_objective":"Maintain a searchable, interpretable, ethically governed research collection within finite stewardship capacity without destroying material or context that must remain recoverable.","structural_mapping":[{"archetype_element":"accumulated layers","domain_realization":"Sequentially accessioned specimen lots, samples, field records, casts, images, and derived datasets.","claim_kind":"CORPUS"},{"archetype_element":"changing layer value and validity","domain_realization":"INFERENCE: Research use, metadata reliability, condition, restrictions, and obligations can change independently of chronological age.","claim_kind":"INFERENCE"},{"archetype_element":"dependency-preserving expiration","domain_realization":"Review eligibility is separated from destruction; provenance links, permits, publications, loans, and community claims gate disposition.","claim_kind":"HYPOTHESIS"},{"archetype_element":"differentiated lifecycle states","domain_realization":"Active study, accessible reserve, deep reserve, restricted hold, transfer candidate, quarantine, and formally deaccessioned states.","claim_kind":"HYPOTHESIS"},{"archetype_element":"bounded stack with surviving accountability","domain_realization":"Reversible tiering and documented deaccession reduce active-store pressure while preserving identity and decision records.","claim_kind":"HYPOTHESIS"}],"component_map":[{"component":"layer_inventory_and_identity_map","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Accession-to-lot-to-container inventory with stable identifiers."},{"component":"deposition_order_and_age_index","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Accession, excavation, processing, and last-review dates."},{"component":"retention_policy_matrix","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Material-class matrix of minimum care, review, transfer, and permissible deaccession rules."},{"component":"decay_function_or_aging_rule","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Metadata assurance decays with time since validation; specimen importance does not decay merely with age."},{"component":"expiration_trigger_definition","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Thresholds trigger review or tier reassignment, never automatic destruction."},{"component":"layer_value_and_risk_score","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Multi-criterion review profile kept disaggregated to expose provenance, obligation, uniqueness, and care risk."},{"component":"dependency_and_reconstruction_check","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Check field context, publications, permits, loans, analyses, and community interests before disposition."},{"component":"pruning_or_archival_pathway","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Rehouse, consolidate, move tier, transfer, quarantine, or exceptionally deaccession."},{"component":"preservation_exception_register","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Register unique, type, sacred, culturally sensitive, legally controlled, or longitudinally valuable material."},{"component":"deletion_audit_and_rollback_window","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Documented quarantine and challenge period before irreversible deaccession."},{"component":"resource_budget_and_storage_tier","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Capacity budgets for study, accessible reserve, restricted, and deep-reserve spaces."},{"component":"review_cadence_and_revalidation_loop","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Periodic revalidation of metadata, obligations, restrictions, and tier assignments."},{"component":"legal_hold_or_compliance_override","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Permits, repatriation processes, agreements, litigation holds, and statutory duties override routine review."},{"component":"hot_warm_cold_access_state","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Active study, accessible reserve, and slower-access deep reserve."},{"component":"orphan_layer_detection","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Lots lacking resolvable provenance, ownership, documentation, or research links are flagged for investigation, not presumed disposable."},{"component":"supersession_marker","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Catalog marker records consolidation, transfer, re-identification, or deaccession and points to successors."},{"component":"layer_compaction_candidate_flag","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Flag compatible containers or duplicate documentation for lossless consolidation."},{"component":"rehydration_or_restore_procedure","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Procedure to retrieve deep-reserve material and reconnect its catalog and context records."},{"component":"deletion_impact_estimate","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Pre-deaccession assessment of irreversibility, uniqueness, affected claims, and reconstruction loss."},{"component":"stale_context_detector","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Flags obsolete identifications, locations, restrictions, links, and catalog assertions."}],"mechanism_dispositions":[{"slug":"age_weighted_value_score","disposition":"considered_rejected","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Reject age-discounted aggregate value: old material may gain analytical value, and a composite score hides veto obligations.","counterfactual_removal":"No causal loss; disaggregated review criteria remain."},{"slug":"archive_restore_test","disposition":"selected_supporting","contribution_type":"OPERATIONAL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Sample retrieval drills across reserve tiers test physical location, condition, catalog linkage, and access time.","counterfactual_removal":"Deep-reserve recoverability would remain assumed rather than demonstrated."},{"slug":"cache_eviction_rule","disposition":"incompatible","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Recent access is not a defensible automatic eviction criterion for unique heritage material.","counterfactual_removal":"No loss; tier changes use governed review."},{"slug":"dependency_safe_delete_check","disposition":"selected_load_bearing","contribution_type":"SAFETY_GUARDRAIL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Expand inbound dependencies to contextual, scholarly, legal, ethical, and community claims; uncertainty blocks destruction.","counterfactual_removal":"Deaccession could sever unique context or live obligations."},{"slug":"lifecycle_storage_tiering_policy","disposition":"selected_load_bearing","contribution_type":"CORE_CAUSAL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Use reversible access and care tiers, with only lossless consolidation.","counterfactual_removal":"The proposal would not relieve active-space and retrieval pressure without destruction."},{"slug":"log_rotation_and_cleanup_job","disposition":"incompatible","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Generational position cannot govern disposal of heterogeneous, nonreplaceable collections.","counterfactual_removal":"No loss."},{"slug":"retention_schedule","disposition":"selected_load_bearing","contribution_type":"CORE_CAUSAL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Translate to a material-class stewardship matrix with permit, agreement, community, and preservation overrides.","counterfactual_removal":"Review and disposition would lack consistent authority and exception rules."},{"slug":"soft_delete_quarantine_window","disposition":"selected_load_bearing","contribution_type":"SAFETY_GUARDRAIL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Use a documented, physically segregated challenge window before any authorized irreversible action.","counterfactual_removal":"Errors or newly surfaced claims could not be caught before destruction."},{"slug":"stale_layer_detection_dashboard","disposition":"selected_supporting","contribution_type":"OPERATIONAL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Inventory and flag stale catalog context, not supposedly stale specimens.","counterfactual_removal":"Review candidates and misleading records would be harder to locate."},{"slug":"time_to_live_ttl_policy","disposition":"considered_rejected","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Reject self-executing expiry; elapsed time may trigger review only.","counterfactual_removal":"No loss; scheduled revalidation supplies the safe temporal trigger."},{"slug":"tombstone_or_deletion_marker","disposition":"selected_supporting","contribution_type":"SAFETY_GUARDRAIL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Keep a durable catalog record of transfer, consolidation, or deaccession with rationale and successor.","counterfactual_removal":"Absence could be confused with loss or nonexistence, breaking accountability."}],"causal_chain":["Resolve collection identity, location, context, and obligations.","Trigger review from metadata staleness, condition, access, or capacity—not age alone.","Block action where dependencies, authority, uniqueness, or community claims are unresolved.","Assign reversible access tiers and lossless consolidation to reduce active-store burden.","Quarantine any exceptional deaccession candidate and invite authorized challenge.","Record the final decision and periodically test retrieval and revalidate exceptions."],"baseline":"Indefinite retention in roughly uniform storage, punctuated by grant-funded rehousing or ad hoc curator decisions.","nearest_rival":"Expand storage and digitize catalogs while retaining every physical lot under the same lifecycle state.","authority_safety":{"affected_parties":["originating, descendant, and Indigenous communities","repositories and collections staff","researchers and students","permit issuers, landowners, and public agencies"],"decision_authority":"The holding institution's authorized collections body, constrained by permits, law, agreements, professional duties, and required community consultation; an algorithm has no disposal authority.","authorized_first_step":"Pilot inventory, metadata revalidation, and reversible tiering on one closed, well-documented, non-human collection; measure retrieval time, space use, catalog errors, staff effort, and objections.","excluded_actions":["destruction during the pilot","automatic disposal by age or access score","action on human remains, sacred or culturally sensitive material, type specimens, active claims, or unresolved provenance","lossy consolidation or separation of objects from context records"],"halt_rollback":"Halt on an unresolved claim, dependency, identity mismatch, condition loss, retrieval failure, or increased search time; restore prior locations and catalog states from the movement log."}},"negative_tests":{"strongest_counterevidence":"Legacy collections can support methods and questions unavailable when excavated; access frequency and age are therefore weak proxies for future significance, while permanent-care and community obligations may foreclose deaccession.","analogy_break":"Repository objects are not replaceable operational records: physical removal may destroy unique evidence, and contextual relationships cannot always be reconstructed from a tombstone or digital surrogate.","failure_condition":"The approach fails if identity and dependency data remain incomplete enough that most lots are held indefinitely, or if tiering saves space but makes legitimate access materially worse.","problem_falsifier":"The diagnosed problem is false if a representative audit finds adequate capacity and retrieval, current metadata, explicit lifecycle states, and no material backlog attributable to undifferentiated retention.","intervention_falsifier":"The intervention is falsified if the bounded pilot yields no meaningful improvement in space, retrieval, or catalog accuracy relative to baseline, or produces unresolved claims, misplaced material, condition damage, or access delays exceeding preset institutional limits.","risks":["False precision may disguise contested heritage values.","Deep tiering may reduce equitable scholarly or community access.","Orphan labels may reflect repository documentation failures rather than low value.","Quarantine still exposes sensitive material and cannot satisfy every immediate-disposition duty.","Consolidation can erase spatial, analytical, or custodial distinctions."]},"null_rationale":null,"classification":{"candidate_kind":"MECHANISM_ADAPTATION","prior_art_status":"UNSEARCHED","evidence_maturity":"HYPOTHESIS"},"revision_change_log":{"revision_kind":"ORIGINAL","prior_problem_id":null,"prior_causal_lever_id":null,"problem_changed":false,"causal_lever_changed":false,"conceptual_changes":[],"operational_changes":[],"repairs_addressed":[]},"confidence":0.78,"generator_notes":"Closed-book structural transfer. The candidate treats elapsed time as a review trigger and metadata-validity signal, never as evidence that archaeological material itself has lost value."}