# Provenance **Domain:** Evidence / Identity / Data Governance **Doc Type:** Canonical Infrastructure Node **Maturity:** Foundational ## Definition **Provenance** is the documented history of an object's, claim's or system's origin, custody, transformation and interpretation. ## Evolutionary Nexus Fossils, genome assemblies, expert-system rules and corporate lineages become historical evidence only when their relations remain traceable. [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] makes provenance the connective tissue joining those domains. ## Continuity Context A reconstructed person requires more than recognizable output. Sources, acquisition conditions, transformations, missing intervals and authorized custodians must be inspectable. Provenance can establish descent and restoration integrity without, by itself, proving first-person continuity. ## Key Insight **Without provenance, resemblance becomes assertion and continuity becomes administratively convenient fiction.** ## See Also [[wiki/Proof of Descent|Proof of Descent]], [[wiki/Continuity Evidence vs Continuity|Continuity Evidence vs Continuity]], [[wiki/Technical Archaeology|Technical Archaeology]], [[wiki/Restoration Integrity|Restoration Integrity]]