The study of scientific models has become an active and important focus in history and philosophy of science, and to a lesser extent in sociology of science. Such attention acknowledges that models are central to scientific practice and that they are distinct from both theory and data, but there is a growing realization that modeling practices differ between and within disciplines. This special issue uses this realization to extend the discussion on models into new areas and different uses in the human and social sciences.

The computer graphic modeling of archaeology offers unusual case materials for the philosopher of science, for the malleability of the modeling materials prompts an experiential engagement between researcher and model and leads to sophisticated discussions of realism as a perceptual quality. The practices in this field point to the way modeling offers a tool that works in the joint context of discovery and justification.