Articles by Emilio Tuosto

2013 Open Access Article Download PDF BibTeX

Virtual models for archaeology

Laura Bocchi, Mahmud Hoger, Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Emilio Tuosto

Abstract

Archaeological excavations are complex activities, fostering the collaboration of a number of different institutions, organizations and individuals. The seamless organization of an excavation may benefit from the use of a virtual model, which can be adjusted to the specific needs of the project. Defining a model of such activities may help to anticipate the appropriate steps necessary, in order to avoid problems and delays and, more importantly, can be reused and adjusted for further projects. In this paper we attempt to promote the use of virtual breeding environments and virtual organizations as a modelling framework for the managerial aspects of archaeological excavations and we illustrate the flexibility of the framework by applying it to different scenarios. Our analysis also shows that the standard notion of virtual organizations needs to be extended in order to cope with specific aspects of archaeological excavations.

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2013, 24, 305-324; doi: 10.19282/ac.24.2013.15

2012 Open Access Article Download PDF BibTeX

Relating archaeological chaîne opératoire and process mining in computer science

Ann Brysbaert, Laura Bocchi, Emilio Tuosto

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential for close methodological synergies between chaîne opératoire and cross-craft interaction, on the one hand, and an alternative use of the so-called process mining in Business Process Modelling, on the other. We use process mining and chaîne opératoire as an initial ground to bring archaeology and computer science closer. We suggest new theoretical models and methodological approaches fostering cross-fertilization between archaeology and computer sciences. The present paper gives an account of cross-cutting research inspired by these methodological approaches and we investigate our common methodologies and test them in case studies based on pottery making. Methodologically, we propose to adopt a formal approach inspired by the computer science notions of workflow and process mining. In fact, such notions have to be extended in order to model the complex chaîne opératoire envisaged by Brysbaert. As shown theoretically, this can be achieved by means of suitable ontologies. Consequently we have re-elaborated specific logs and shown that new notations for archaeological processes and algorithms are needed. In conclusion, we offer a list of requirements for an ontology of (workflows for) chaînes opératoires.

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2012, 23, 165-186; doi: 10.19282/ac.23.2012.10