The beginnings and aims

The first issue of Archeologia e Calcolatori was published in 1990 on the initiative of the Istituto per l'Archeologia Etrusco-Italica (now Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), together with the Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti of the University of Siena. Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio in Florence were chosen as the publishers because of their long-established experience in the publication of journals and books relating to archaeology.

The stimulus to establish a new journal came from an analysis of this field of studies in Italy. In fact, whilst growing interest and various applications allowed for the recognition of the positive introduction of computers in archaeology, the obvious need emerged to create a stable point of reference, in order to collect projects and diffuse the results of Italian research internationally.

Such a publication had been lacking up till then. As a result, the journal was established with the idea of publishing in a homogeneous and systematic way the results of computer research carried out in the field of historical archaeology, offering an up-to-date edition of projects in progress both in Italy and abroad: thus, the way was paved for new developments in computer application.

The editorial organisation

From the outset, the aim was to initiate an open and continuous exchange of information among different countries, thus prompting the creation of an international Scientific Committee. Representatives of the major Italian and foreign institutes interested in archaeological computing agreed to become members. A qualified Editorial board also assures a continuous flow of information and a profitable exchange of data.

The journal covers three distinct parts. The first considers methodological approaches: it collects articles concerning theoretical aspects of archaeological computing as well as reports on programmes conducted by dedicated international institutions.

The main section contains articles on various computer applications, such as databases, Geographical Information Systems, quantitative methods, expert systems, computer graphics, image processing, multimedia and web tools. A section is also dedicated to the automatic processing of documentary sources.

The third aspect of the journal is characterised by book reviews and bibliographic news, with the aim to provide readers with an up-to-date source of documentation. Special thematic issues and Conference Proceedings have also been included.