Articles by Riccardo Francovich

Thanks to the great development in the use of the Internet, even in Archaeology the Net can be exploited both as a means to spread new research results, and to create a dialogue between different institutions like Universities, Superintendences, archaeological and cultural associations. Nowadays, through thousands of web sites, users have acquired a good experience in surfing and are able to choose which site to visit and not. This article presents a detailed description of our web site for Medieval Archaeology, which counts more than 6000 web pages since it was put on line in 1996. It has become a benchmark and a starting point for every kind of research in medieval archaeology on the Internet.

Ten years after the publication of his article in «Archeologia e Calcolatori», the author returns to the subject of the relationship between computers and Medieval archaeology and describes the different phases of development which have characterised this field of study. In particular, he describes the research activity carried out by the Laboratory for Computer Applications of the Department of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Siena, which was created and implemented over the past ten years. The information system which has been developed is based on a programmed user interface (OpenArcheo) which operates as a supervisor and has been used for several different projects aimed at organising in an integrated environment large quantities of data, such as the “Progetto Siti d’Altura della Toscana”, concerning the editing of archaeological maps of Tuscan cities and provinces, and for the organisation of data from the excavations carried out by the Department.

The standardisation of records in archaeological work has permitted, notwithstanding some initial “resistence”, the massive introduction of computer science. In the field of post-classical archaeology the contribution of computers appears essential in comparison with data arising from written documentation. The latter appears to be of such dimension and quality that it has led to the formation of a historiographical tradition that is not used to dealing with archaeological research. Cartographic computerisation and image processing represent another sector which is developing in the post-classical field in order to study city-planning and building. This leads to an interdisciplinarity which is becoming extremely stimulating.