Articles by Subject
Computer technology
Database
Disséquer l’ornement, interpréter l’hybridité humano-végétale. Diphuès – Une base de données polyvalente
Abstract
The Diphuès database is an open access research, exchange and dialogue tool devoted to the half-human half-vegetal figures in Roman Antiquity. It is the result of two research projects that have been carried out since 2012 under the aegis of the F.R.S.-FNRS (Fonds de la recherche scientifique de Belgique). From 2024, it will be made available in open access to the international scientific community by the ‘Service d’Histoire de l’art et Archéologie de l’Antiquité gréco-romaine’ (SHAArAGR) and the ‘Centre Informatique de Philosophie & Lettres’ (CIPL) of the University of Liège. Diphuès is based on a corpus originally designed as a personal work tool to serve specific research objectives. This tool has undergone several major modifications, in its structure and purpose, so that it can be used to produce new knowledge. Its network application is seen as the final stage in the research communication process and is part of a wider effort to share knowledge and resources.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2024, 35.1, 157-172; doi: 10.19282/ac.35.1.2024.12
3D/4D visualisation for documenting and editing images of pre-roman Italy: the ICAR database
Natacha Lubtchansky, Alban-Brice Pimpaud
Abstract
It has been over twenty years since the ICAR database of figurative scenes from pre-Roman Italy (Etruscan, Italic, Italiote) was first made available online to researchers, students and the general public (http://icar.huma-num.fr/, 2002-, ISSN 2491-2301). The database is a tool for documentation and research into ancient iconography, bringing together the major corpora of images from pre-Roman Italy and providing the main information (archaeological, historical, stylistic, discovery, conservation, bibliographical) relating to them. Since 2000, ICAR has been developing its activities in association with various iconographic research programmes. Over the last ten years the database has also taken into account the modern documentation of the ancient artefacts and offers a data interoperability portal bringing together all the international collections preserving modern reproductions of Etruscan painting. Within this framework, we developed an exploratory tool (ICAR 4D) to combine high-definition 3D digitizations of two Etruscan painted tombs (the tombs of the Bigas and of Orcus in Tarquinia) with all the drawings and paintings produced over more than a century since the discovery of the two monuments. This tool uses cross-browser and open-source libraries to digitally expose and allow 3-D real-time online examination of both tombs’ models and their rich graphical documentation.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2024, 35.1, 173-192; doi: 10.19282/ac.35.1.2024.13
Un database condiviso ad accesso libero per lo studio archeologico dei cimiteri medievali in Italia settentrionale
Brunella Berzellini, Maurizio Marinato, Marco Piragnolo
Abstract
This paper presents the database and the open access georeferenced online map of the CAMIS project of the University of Padua, which aims to catalogue and analyse late antique and medieval funerary contexts as a response to the scattered documentation and partial publications on this subject. After describing the structure and software used for the database and the online map, some numbers are presented relating to the more than thousand sites already entered in the system and the kind of results that can be advanced, underlining some of the problems encountered. The paper calls for the optimization of data management to foster open archaeological research, highlighting the need for a unified approach to study complex historical phenomena. The CAMIS database, incorporating standardized vocabularies for systematic and statistical analysis, is vital for unlocking new research avenues and addressing gaps in current knowledge. The project exemplifies the power of open science, promoting collaboration and enriching archaeological research with a rapidly growing, vast dataset.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2024, 35.1, 233-250; doi: 10.19282/ac.35.1.2024.16
DHeLO and BiDiAr: new digital resources within the H2IOSC Project
Giacomo Mancuso, Antonio D'Eredità
Abstract
This paper explores the initial outcomes of the H2IOSC Project, specifically within Work Package 2 (WP2 - Landscaping & Building Communities), which aims to survey the Italian digital landscape in Language Technologies, Humanities, and Heritage Science (HS). A significant outcome of the efforts of the Rome branch of CNR-ISPC is the development of two key resources: the DHeLO web app and the BiDiAr bibliographic collection. DHeLO (Digital Heritage Landscaping Platform) is designed to collect, store, and query metadata of research projects, products, and digital tools in Cultural Heritage (CH) and Heritage Science (HS). It aims to create a comprehensive disciplinary observatory by integrating data from multiple sources into a structured system that allows for complex queries and data indexing. This platform supports the FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) and includes metadata standards based on the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). BiDiAr (Bibliography of Digital Archaeology) functions as a relational database within Zotero, an open-source bibliographic tool. It compiles bibliographic entries relevant to digital archaeology, integrating themes and research outputs from the 'Archeologia e Calcolatori' journal. This database aids in thematic trend analysis and network analysis by linking bibliographic citations, enhancing the understanding of research dynamics and impacts within the E-RIHS community. Analyzing these resources reveals an exponential increase in virtual reality and 3D modeling products, driven by epistemological developments and the disruptive use of photogrammetric modeling. These tools not only enhance data accessibility and usability but also support interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation in digital heritage and archaeology.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2024, 35.1, 521-542; doi: 10.19282/ac.35.1.2024.31
Does not compute! Accounting for social and situated experiences while integrating and analyzing obsidian sourcing data
Abstract
The Database of Obsidian Sourcing Studies (DObsiSS) {https://zackbatist.info/DObsiSS) is an openly accessible integrated dataset comprising the results of dozens of obsidian sourcing studies published over a 50-year span. While the history of technological and professional progress pertaining to obsidian sourcing methods has yielded immense positive returns, this also produced extremely inconsistent data that were very difficult to integrate. This contributed to a sense of epistemic anxiety deriving from the struggle to reconcile the myriad outlooks that informed each data point -- with each other, and with a new objective of analyzing the dataset as an integrated whole. These challenges were further deepened by the Author’s position as a student and relatively uninitiated novice at the time when DObsiSS was being compiled. This paper reflects on various social, technical and epistemic challenges that the Author faced while assembling DObsiSS and while attempting to use this integrated dataset for a failed network analysis study, and relates this experience to a broader commentary on practices relating to data re-use.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2024, 35.2, 47-54; doi: 10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.06
Emdb: yet another db for the stratigraphic record
Emanuel Demetrescu, Cristina Gonzalez-Esteban, Filippo Sala
Abstract
The collection of stratigraphic data has been done for years with offline tools like the Microsoft Access software, which was considered a user-friendly tool with the ability to print standardised context sheets (like the Italian ministerial US sheets) directly and ‘without’ the need for technical expertise. It is well known to the scientific community the limitation inherent in this type of approach: the data is not shared online and is not easy to be collaboratively edited; the data is locked within a proprietary format with repercussions on medium- to long-term preservation; and it is not immediately possible to integrate the data with other projects due to a lack of precise reference standard. Despite these issues, the offline approach remained viable in a whole range of situations where it is necessary to have a fast and easy-to-manage database. This contribution starts from the hypothesis that an offline standardised and encapsulated tool in an open format (such as SQLite, LibreOffice Base or MySQL), editable with open source software, can offer additional solution because it is easy to use and disseminate in the form of a free, downloadable template. EMdb aims to collect and manage not only stratigraphic data but also reconstructive unit sheets to cover the need to analyse, interpret and validate scientific hypotheses in the field.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2023, 34.1, 21-30; doi: 10.19282/ac.34.1.2023.03
Il contributo dell’Università degli Studi del Molise allo studio delle tecniche murarie di età romana attraverso l'uso di metodologie informatiche. Due esempi di applicazione
Abstract
This article is the result of a research project currently being conducted at the University of Molise (Italy), aimed at drawing a cognitive framework of Roman building techniques in today’s Molise Region. The methods used to pursue this objective are specifically linked to masonry walls analysis, with an innovative interdisciplinary approach, entailing the use of a database, which is the result of the work of an international team of researchers (ACoR), in addition to the use of experimental methods to analyse the metric and the GIS platform to manage the geo-localization of the sites. Two different case studies are included in this paper, such as a Roman villa, i.e. a private building, in the municipality of San Giuliano del Sannio (CB), and a theatre, i.e. a public construction, in the municipality of Venafro (IS). Thanks to the different nature of the two examples, a different approach was used in analysing the parameters. For the private villa, the method employed was a stratigraphic reading of the structure, performed analytically; whereas for the public building, given its construction complexity being examined and the lack of results from the archaeological investigation, a sample method with metric parameter analysis was applied – already tested on the sites of Olimpia, Ostia and Cuma. The main aim is to contribute, through an extremely accurate analysis, filing, and geo-localization system, in the understanding of an area which is still under-researched and in which architectural information are extremely fragmented and little known.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2022, 33.1, 113-134; doi: 10.19282/ac.33.1.2022.07
Qanat, una tecnologia del passato, una risorsa per il futuro: riferimenti storici, aspetti socio-economici e repertorio tipologico
Simona Boccuti, Angelo Ferrari, Gianni Pingue, Emiliano Di Luzio
Abstract
The lack of surface water and a high potential for evapotranspiration are the climatic and hydrological characteristics of the arid and semi-arid Middle East regions. In foothills regions the groundwater, often supplied by partially buried alluvial fan systems, has been intercepted and conveyed through the creation of a highly efficient supply system known as ‘qanat’, ‘karez’ or ‘foggara’. This ancient hydraulic technology spread on a large scale since the 6th century BCE, during the rise and development of the Persian Empire. It consists in the excavation of a series of vertical tunnels, like large wells, which are connected by a gently sloping underground channel bringing water by gravity. Through the centuries, the qanats have been not only a sustainable system for exploitation of groundwater resources but also an important factor for the socio-economic and cultural development of local communities. In this paper the Authors illustrate the main aspects of qanats under historical, cultural and socio-economic perspective and the recent decline of the qanat system. An original and still updating database of these type of hydraulic operas, implemented through the collection and analysis of documentary sources, cartographic data, and on-site measurements is then presented. The database, including qanats detected on regional to local scales, might be regarded as a valuable support for the recovery of these structures and a more efficient governance of water resources.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2022, 33.2, 153-174; doi: 10.19282/ac.33.2.2022.09
Not only paper: Computer Engineering to contrast the eclipse of the audio documents. The case study of a personal archive
Sergio Canazza, Giovanni De Poli, Alvise Vidolin
Abstract
Music was one of the earliest kinds of art to explore the creative use of electronic and information technologies: new musical forms have assumed an increasingly artistic importance since the second half of the last century. Technology, at the same time, also is the cause of their rapid deterioration and risk of disappearance. The conservation of this heritage presents very different problems from those posed by traditional artworks. To this purpose this paper first presents some results for the conservation of audio documents: a well-tuned re-mediation methodology, an artificial intelligence based approach to detect audio tape discontinuities and access tools for renovating the listening experience of old analog media. To safeguard this heritage, it is not enough to digitize the content of recordings and documents, but all the related information, collected on the author’s personal archive, must also be accessible. The second part of this paper presents in detail, as a case study, the design and development of an information management system allowing the long-time preservation and the access to different documents, among them: audio, letters, musical scores, and manuscripts of the personal archive of an important electronic music composer.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2021, 32.1, 469-488; doi: 10.19282/ac.32.1.2021.26
Historical and epigraphical survey of inscriptions from Doclea
Tatjana Koprivica, Olga Pelcer-Vujacic
Abstract
This paper presents a historical and epigraphical survey of the inscriptions from Doclea. Due to devastation and inadequate protection by the relevant institutions, a large number of inscriptions have disappeared or have been destroyed by the local population and irresponsible researchers. Bearing that in mind, every new inscription is important for understanding the history and everyday life in Roman Doclea.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2019, Supplemento 11, 43-57; doi: 10.19282/ACS.11.2019.05
The “Ebla Digital Archives” Project: how to deal with methodological and operational issues in the development of cuneiform texts repositories
Francesco Di Filippo, Massimo Maiocchi, Lucio Milano, Renzo Orsini
Abstract
The paper provides an overview of the digital tools developed as part of the Ebla Digital Archives Project, which aims to offer a digital edition of roughly 3,000 cuneiform tablets from ancient Ebla (modern Tell Mardikh, in western Syria), dated to the middle of the third millennium BCE. The Ebla archive is the oldest one in the history of mankind, for which extensive information concerning the primary setting of the documents is available. The archaicity of the writing system, combined with the inherent difficulties in reconstructing languages from the remote past (Sumerian, Akkadian, Eblaite), pushes us to rethink the strategies to properly digitally capture the complexity of these sources, of invaluable historical significance: administrative documents, literary texts, vocabularies, letters, etc. We tackled the problem through the development of a PostgreSQL database, which is populated by ad hoc Python scripts that parse input transliteration files, which in turn are encoded using a shallow mark-up language. The individual steps in such workflow are discussed, as well as the benefits in terms of advanced queries for information retrieval that such approach offers.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2018, 29, 117-142; doi: 10.19282/ac.29.2018.14
Database management e dati archeologici: standardizzazione e applicazione della logica fuzzy alla gestione delle fonti e delle attribuzioni tipologiche
Abstract
A specific relational database has been created for the management of small finds found on the Cretan sites of Phaistos and Ayia Triada in Crete. Such artifacts have been often underestimated in past archaeological studies, because of the perception that they are less relevant objects in comparison to other categories such as pottery. The database GEAR has been created to improve the recognition of their potential. This article presents the possible solutions used in the database to overcome some methodological problems: specifically two of the methodological aspects that have been dealt with are standardization and management of the reference sources and typological attributions. In the first case, a standard typological terminology (recommended by the ICCD) is used to assure data normalization; in the second case, the preservation of the subjectivity and uncertainty of archaeological attributions is obtained with the application of fuzzy logic and its concept of ‘probability of belonging’.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2018, 29, 143-160; doi: 10.19282/ac.29.2018.15
Recovering the architectural patrimony of South Italy: The Medieval Kingdom of Sicily Image Database
Caroline Bruzelius, Paola Vitolo
Abstract
The Medieval Kingdom of Sicily Image Database uses new media technologies to reframe our understanding of medieval Europe by focusing on the role of the built environment for the formation of State identity in the medieval Kingdom of Sicily during the Norman, Swabian, Angevin and Aragonese dynasties (c. 950-1420). The material in the database is important for two reasons: the significance of South Italy as a prototype of multicultural State formation and the highly fragmentary condition (war bombardment, earthquakes, urban transformation) of the sites that played a central role in the power structures of the Kingdom. A comprehensive database of historical images of monuments and cities (prints, drawings, maps, photographs) made by scholars, artists and travellers from the fifteenth century to the twentieth century, can enable scholars and the public to recover the appearance of the landscape, cities, and individual monuments prior to radical renovation or destructions. An interdisciplinary research team is conducting a systematic survey and critical cataloguing of images dispersed in the archives, museums and libraries of Italy, Europe and US.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2018, Supplemento 10, 15-28; doi: 10.19282/ACS.10.2018.02
L’OMCI - Ontology of Medieval Christianity in Images de l’INHA. Une encyclopédie par l’image
Sébastien Biay, Antoine Courtin, Isabelle Marchesin
Abstract
The French Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA) has launched a project for scholars and the broader public that proposes an innovative way of accessing Medieval Christian images. The relationship between pictorial content and religious ideology in Medieval Christian images is much more nuanced, and more expressive, than simple storytelling. Ontology of Medieval Christianity in Images (OMCI) is concerned with this ontological level of analysis. The OMCI team of art historians, graduate students, and technology experts intends to build a web resource that will identify concepts and iconographical themes linked to Medieval Christian knowledge and belief systems. These will be augmented by visual examples from the art of that period. By building nuanced vocabularies, OMCI will allow databases and scholars to better represent how such images depict philosophical and spiritual themes that have been diminished in current approaches.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2018, Supplemento 10, 29-47; doi: 10.19282/ACS.10.2018.03
El archivo digital DANAEM: Danza y Arte en la larga Edad Media
Licia Buttà, Maria del Mar Valls Fusté, Sara Sánchez Roig
Abstract
The digital archive DANAEM: Dance and Art in the long Middle Ages is one of the scientific results of the project 'Traces and figure of dance in the long Middle Ages. Iconographic, textual and ethnographic corpus in the Iberian Peninsula and its projection in Latin America (FFI2013-42939-P)’, financed by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (2014-2017). The archive gathers, in several databases, a literary and artistic corpus of dance in the Iberian Peninsula during the long Middle Ages, as well as five documentary videos of short duration about traditional modern dances whose origin can be traced back to the medieval and post-medieval period. Performances represented in works of art, literary descriptions and references to dance with an ethical-moral character are listed and organised in a webpage based on 3 sections: literary space, performative stage and contemporary geography. The technical specifications of the works of art and literary references go with introductions referring to each field. Once online (from April 2018), the web will work as a continually growing tool for Dance Studies.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2018, Supplemento 10, 49-63; doi: 10.19282/ACS.10.2018.04
L’instrumentum fittile inscriptum Latinum: proposta per una schedatura informatizzata a partire dalla documentazione modenese
Abstract
Over the past few decades an intense discussion has taken place among scholars about the important role that instrumentum inscriptum plays in the reconstruction of various aspects of Roman social and economic history. One of the key issues is the definition of the criteria for publication and digital cataloguing of this class of materials, which includes various types of objects (amphorae, lamps, fine ware pottery, building materials, etc.) and inscriptions (stamps, tituli picti, graffiti ante or post cocturam). This paper presents a proposal for cataloguing fictile instrumentum inscriptum through a relational database which takes into account both the archaeological and epigraphical aspects of this kind of documents, while also paying particular attention to possible prosopographical comparisons with lapidary epigraphy. The collection of these data allows the user to pursue socio-economic research on the basis of different criteria, which can be variously combined: geographical, typological, prosopographical and chronological. Three case studies proved the effectiveness of this tool both for analytical and statistical studies.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2017, 28.1, 9-28; doi: 10.19282/AC.28.1.2017.01
Il progetto “ceraNEApolis”: un sistema informativo cartografico delle produzioni ceramiche a Neapolis (IV a.C.-VII d.C.)
Maria Amodio, Sara Caldarone, Renata Esposito, Illuminata Faga, Stefania Febbraro, Riccardo Laurenza, Raffaella Pappalardo, Raffaella Pierobon Benoit, Lydia Pugliese
Abstract
In the last few decades, urban archaeology in Naples has contributed to outline the history of the city. The discovery of a great amount of pottery gave information about the daily life of ancient Naples. It was therefore decided to draw up a thematic archaeological map of the ceramics finds to reconstruct their production and distribution from the 4th century B.C. to the 7th century A.D. The project ceraNEApolis consists of a pottery map linked to a bibliographic database, which will be made available online: a working tool for experts, useful to outline the cultural city stratification and to understand the Neapolitan archaeological sites through the material. It is useful in defining the topography of production (workshop, raw materials, and resources), distribution (communication routes, harbour, market), uses and consumption patterns (house, habitat, sacred areas, burials) in the city, even if lacking monumental evidence. It contributes to the reconstruction and analysis of the cultural and urban landscape, taking into account the geomorphological elements and the data contexts even in diachronic and transversal multi-disciplinary perspective. The analysis of some significant cases shows its validity also for potential alternative fruition. The integration of virtual reality systems is a possible extension also for the knowledge, enhancement, communication and use of cultural heritage.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2017, 28.1, 29-47; doi: 10.19282/AC.28.1.2017.02
Tanti cocci, quanti vasi?
Abstract
The study of a massive waste dump of the Arretine potter Ateius, by means of the database FileMaker Pro 11, provided some evidence concerning the deposit’s formation. For part of the fragments there were at least two depositions at different times, as some potsherds were re-used as building material within the kiln itself, then discarded again, with a layer of lime and sand that still covered them. Some fragments were first used as slats for shaping vases, then thrown into the dump, and eventually re-used as building material. All these operations inevitably caused the alteration of the stratigraphy, making it quite difficult to piece together all the fragments pertaining to a single vase. Moreover, in a period that cannot be identified, part of the dump was moved from the original place to the location where it was found in the excavation carried out in the 1950s . All these events are reflected by the archaeological records. The Conspectus 9 cup is a good example: the fragments of rims largely outnumber those of foots. Assessing the minimum number of vessels present in the dump is not easy under these circumstances.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2017, 28.1, 49-60; doi: 10.19282/AC.28.1.2017.03
The Kingdom of Sicily Image Database
Caroline Bruzelius, Paola Vitolo
Abstract
The Kingdom of Sicily Image Database uses new media technologies to reframe our understanding of medieval Europe by focusing on the role of the built environment for the formation of state identity in the medieval Kingdom of Sicily ruled by Norman, Swabian, Angevin and Aragonese dynasties (950-1420). The theme is important for two reasons: the significance of South Italy as a prototype of multicultural state formation and the highly fragmentary (war bombardment, earthquakes, urban transformation) state of the sites that played a central role in the power structures of this new state. A comprehensive database of historical images of monuments and cities (prints, drawings, maps, photographs, etc.) made by scholars, artists and travellers from the 15th to the 20th centuries, can enable scholars and the public to recover the appearance of the landscape, of cities, and of individual monuments prior to radical renovations or destructions. An interdisciplinary research team is conducting a systematic survey and critical cataloguing of images dispersed in the archives, museums and libraries of Italy, Europe and US.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2016, 27, 107-130; doi: 10.19282/AC.27.2016.06
Sperimentazione del sistema ministeriale SICaR w/b per la gestione e la consultazione informatizzata dei dati sulla policromia
Eliana Siotto, Clara Baracchini, Ulderico Santamaria, Roberto Scopigno
Abstract
The need for integration and sharing of data on ancient polychromies requires shared working methods and tools. This paper illustrates a first effort in the direction of testing the web-based Information System documentation for the Restoration of Yards (SICaR) of Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (MiBACT). This test activity suggested some changes that have been subsequently implemented in order to record archaeological and scientific information and manage standardized data on ancient polychromy in cultural heritage documentation.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2016, 27, 131-151; doi: 10.19282/AC.27.2016.07
La piattaforma 'Marmora Phrygiae'. Open data per la conoscenza delle cave di marmo della Frigia meridionale e per lo studio dei cantieri antichi di Hierapolis
Giacomo Di Giacomo, Giuseppe Scardozzi
Abstract
The ‘Marmora Phrygiae’ project deals with some of the main issues related to the study of ancient quarries and building sites with a systematic approach, integrating the skills of experts from different disciplines: archaeology, ancient topography, art history, architecture, geology, geophysics, chemistry, geochemistry, biology, remote sensing, computer science, and Roman law. This paper summarizes the main scientific results of the project and the computer techniques used for implementing the Marmora Phrygiae online geodatabase, a system aimed at data presentation on the web, sharing knowledge through Open Data. The Marmora Phrygiae database dynamically stores the results of archaeological research and archaeometric analyses in order to publish them online at the end of the project: after a registration process, free access to available data will be allowed. The same database is also interfaced to Geoserver, a web-oriented cartographic engine, in which the coordinates of each feature (monuments, quarries, artefacts, stone samples), acquired by a high-precision topographic GPS, are stored. This solution allowed acquiring important new data on the marble extractive district of Hierapolis, the organization of the urban building sites during the Roman Imperial age and the Early-Byzantine period, and their dynamics of supplying stone materials within the overall ancient marble extractive district of south-western Turkey.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2016, 27, 153-178; doi: 10.19282/AC.27.2016.08
WebGIS interdisciplinari e questioni di metodo: il progetto Le fonti per la storia
Francesca Brunet, Alberto Cosner, Giuseppe Naponiello
Abstract
The paper describes a project named Le fonti per la storia, a heterogeneous collection of historical sources organized in a unitary and homogeneous archive, which is the result of a five-year research project. The sources investigated - mainly archaeological, archival, architectural, art historical, bibliographic, oral, photographic and based on material culture - all are to be found in the Primiero (TN) territorial district. The project has developed a complex database system, organized by different levels of analysis and by fields of investigation that are closely interrelated. This system is totally based on open source data management programs and the whole project is Creative Commons-licensed.
I bronzi del Museo Claudio Faina di Orvieto: una banca dati
Abstract
A recent project related to the research line dedicated to Archaeology and Information Society of ISMA-CNR is the website Sethlans. Bronzi del Museo Faina (http://bronzifaina.isma.cnr.it/). This website, planned using the CMS open source Museo and Web (OTEBAC), is dedicated to the bronzes in the Claudio Faina Museum in Orvieto. The numerous bronze objects are catalogued in a database, complete with colour and black and white images and virtual links to other databases available in Internet. The paper also briefly describes other ISMA projects, like the one dedicated to the Virtual museum of archaeological computing.
Un archivio digitale multidisciplinare per la gestione e la conservazione di un patrimonio culturale a rischio: il progetto Ghazni (Afghanistan)
Abstract
The Italian Archaeological Mission at Ghazni, Afghanistan (1957-1979) brought to light significant information from the Buddhist (2nd-9th/10th cent.) to the Islamic period (10th-19th cent.). The dramatic events of the last 50 years in Afghanistan and the recent Italian economic difficulties have caused serious harm to this unique archaeological record. This gave rise to an operation of rescue and safeguarding led by the University of Naples L’Orientale and financed by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, with the aim of recovering the knowledge acquired from the excavations at Ghazni and the subsequent research. A collaborative web-based database, able to manage all the information on the most important findings, is the core of this project. The web database is based on BraDypUS, an archiving platform released under an Open Source license. The scientific database has been paired up with a web portal, built using an innovative and open sourced CMS, responsible for the dissemination of this knowledge to a non-specialist public.
OpenArcheo2. An archaeological knowledge base
Abstract
The paper deals with a brief description of OpenArcheo2, a wholly new archaeological information system currently being developed. The system subverts the usual perspective of solutions dedicated to the management/analysis of ‘raw’ archaeological data, focusing entirely on interpreted information. Representation of archaeological knowledge becomes, therefore, the primary objective of the system, as can be clearly seen from the conceptual model and the ontology concisely presented in this paper.
Pre-Roman languages on the Apennine peninsula
Abstract
Paper presented at the Italic inscriptions and databases workshop.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 15-16; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.03
Inscriptions on iDAI.objects Arachne
Reinhard Förtsch, Francesco Mambrini, Wolfgang Schmiedle
Abstract
Paper presented at the Italic inscriptions and databases workshop.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 23-24; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.07
Inscriptions in their spatial contexts in Roman Italy
Kalle Korhonen, Eeva-Maria Viitanen, Laura Nissin
Abstract
Paper presented at the Italic inscriptions and databases workshop.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 28-29; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.09
The epigraphic project of the Laboratory of Epigraphy (EpiLab), Department of Humanities (Trieste University).
Abstract
Paper presented at the Italic inscriptions and databases workshop.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 33-34; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.11
Numismatics and inscriptions: ancient coins at Uppsala University brought online
Abstract
Paper presented at the Italic inscriptions and databases workshop.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 37-38; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.13
Databases and standardisation. Experiences from Athens
Hans Liss, Anne Ingvarsson-Sundström
Abstract
Paper presented at the Italic inscriptions and databases workshop.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 41-42; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.15
An epigraphy database: a point of view of a researcher of Oscan/Sabellic epigraphy
Abstract
Paper presented at the Italic inscriptions and databases workshop.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 43-44; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.16
The flower woman figurines from the Foce Sele Hera Sanctuary. Ancient coroplastic digital data management, analysis, and sharing
Abstract
The paper focuses on the digital strategies developed in the study of the corpus of flower woman terracotta figurines found in the excavations carried out by Paola Zancani Montuoro and Umberto Zanotti Bianco at the Foce Sele Hera Sanctuary and stored in the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum. The flower woman definition identifies the best known structure of the statuettes composed of a female bust supporting a flower orthogonal to the base. Actually, the scientific literature about these peculiar artifacts reveals a diffused vagueness and ambiguity in the definition, formalization, and functional exegesis, encouraging a new comprehensive study. The main results come from: digital management of the information; seriation analysis supported by a quantitative approach; visualization of occurrences in the Mediterranean Basin based on Fusion Tables; testing of multidisciplinary approaches to cooperative content building in archaeology. The study developed a whole technology-enhanced workflow, including multimedia data digital management and sharing; statistical techniques for the analysis of terracotta shrinkage in moulded coroplastic figurines seriation; webGIS visualization of occurrences in the ancient Mediterranean Basin and their relations.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 95-114; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.20
Cronotipologia al tempo del web 2.0: banca dati e mappa online dei portali di Genova
Anna Decri, Isidoro Parodi, Stefano Roascio, Giulia Rosatto
Abstract
The article describes the construction of a territorial database that collects information about the 14th century portals of the city of Genoa, in the historic downtown of the area inside the defensive walls. The project focuses on dating some significant elements and demonstrating their importance compared to other elements of the building and the portal itself. Decorative aspects, especially the aesthetic ones, are less significant compared to the thicknesses and shapes of the fixed frame stone of the portals. So the essential characteristics for defining the portal chronotype are the proportions and the thickness of the jamb portal in relation to the width of the net size. The territorial database was created with the aim of collecting information on all portals within the established boundaries. An important contribution to the research planning consists in the CIVIS project: a system in which information collected converged, leading to the production of digital cartography and computer data, available from all over the web. Moreover, the authors illustrate another territorial database produced thanks to a research conducted by ISCUM, which led to cataloguing the chronotypology of the portals in rural areas. In ISCUM databases there are already 2560 rural portals, for the most part located in north-western Italy.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 265-274; doi: 10.19282/ac.26.2015.31
L’interazione tra il SITAR e la banca dati Niobe
Rita Paris, Carla De Stefanis, Cinzia Gallo
Abstract
The Inventory and Catalogue Service promotes inventorying and cataloguing of the archaeological objects owned by the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma (SSBAR). Since 2007, the Niobe database has allowed us to elaborate the data of the archaeological items. In 2012, the Niobe program was updated to meet the changing needs (online data entry, information control and supervision) and to make the system consistent with the current state of development of the web-based applications. Today Niobe 2012 provides a web application, which is accessible to local or remote users via a browser. The database fulfills the requirements of institutional cataloguing, not only aimed at the identification and quantification of the objects but also at their protection and preservation. Users can browse, see, add, and edit files, with different conditions and restrictions according to the access profiles (guest, cataloguer, auditor). Niobe 2012 allows entering RA records (Reperto Archeologico, i.e. archaeological find), following ICCD guidelines. The user can choose among three research methods: free text search, advanced search and specific catalog/ inventory number search. Mapping all the available data on location, recovery, conservation measures, officer in charge of cataloguing or excavations will make it possible an interchange of information between Niobe and SITAR. This interaction can bring a considerable and mutual enrichment of the two databases, helping the Superintendency to manage global information and data.
L’interazione tra il SITAR e la banca dati del servizio di antropologia della SSBAR
Andrea Battistini, Paola Catalano
Abstract
Recent developments in the excavation and osteological studies of human skeletal remains have shown the need to adopt a computer-based approach, which is able to integrate the knowledge and skills acquired in recent years by different branches of archaeo-antropological studies, using modern and innovative tools. JASs (Journal of Anthropological Sciences) has repeatedly promoted a renewal of the practices related to information management, both through the creation of the forum Sharing databases in digital Anthropology, and through the publication of many international works linked to this topic. In order to address the management of large amounts of anthropological and paleopathological data and their subsequent processing and interpretation, the Division of Paleopathology of Pisa University has created an extensive project relating to excavation and laboratory activities designed to develop a number of data storage protocols and subsequent inclusion into a GIS system. This project has been essentially organized into a tripartite structure; the information system includes two main protocols designed by the research team of the Division of Paleopathology of the University of Pisa that work on an OS Windows: 1. the software SIUS manages the skeletal unit computer records, which aim to store all the archaeological, taphonomic and anthropological data recorded on the field during archaeological excavations; 2. the software BONES stores and handles the dozens of anthropological and paleopathological records compiled during the examination of the skeletal remains in the laboratory. The GIS system allows interaction between the protocols using the two types of software.
Fotosar.it. La fototeca online della SSBAR
Abstract
The Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma (SSBAR) possesses a notable photographic collection which is highly remarkable because of the variety, quality and quantity of the images (about 500,000 analogical examples on several types of supports). The need to protect negatives, recently recognized as cultural heritage, and their contents, required the digitization of a considerable part of the SSBAR photographic library. An easy searchable digital archive was therefore created, together with the website http://www.fotosar.it finalized to make this whole heritage available to the public. This website was activated in 2002 and continually improved till the current version; it permits the free consultation of the photos, also through excellent features to enlarge details, and their purchase in various formats (low, medium, high density) with different fees set on the basis of the intended use. In addition to the value of the website itself, our hope is that the Fotosar website, holding numerous and valuable images, not only of works of art but also of excavations and archaeological finds, will be able to cooperate with the SITAR system. This cooperation will allow users to access Fotosar contents related to a specific urban area or monument by selecting the corresponding location in the SITAR web map. The future objective is to continue the meritorious cooperation undertaken with the experience of exchange of views and interrelations described above, towards a general harmonization of our work.
LiBER: un progetto di digitalizzazione dei testi in scrittura lineare B
Maurizio Del Freo, Francesco Di Filippo
Abstract
This article focuses on the preliminary results of a CNR-ISMA ongoing project for the digital edition of Linear B texts, having the ultimate goal of providing scholars, and all those who are interested in the Mycenaean world, with an updated edition of these documents. LiBER (Linear B Electronic Resources) is a document management system which is able to process a variety of materials, such as the logo-syllabic script preserved by these ancient records and their physical supports, as well as to project all relevant data into a dynamic archaeological map. In particular, LiBER has been designed to manage structured texts and all the information available about their chronology, paleography and spatial distribution. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the general philosophy which lies behind the conception of this kind of enterprise and the solutions adopted for the encoding of this specific logo-syllabic script - by exploring drawbacks and potentials of descriptive markup languages and a database driven approach - and for the representation of data through dynamic maps.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2014, 25, 33-50; doi: 10.19282/ac.25.2014.02
Thesaurus: un database per il patrimonio culturale sommerso
Denise La Monica, Silvana Costa, Gloriana Pace, Massimo Martinelli, Ovidio Salvetti, Marco Tampucci, Marco Righi
Abstract
Thesaurus Project aims at promoting the knowledge of the underwater cultural heritage, ancient and modern, through the application of several typologies of tools: underwater autonomous vehicles, which will be able to explore the sea bottom in teams communicating with each other; a database, which will be useful to store and manage all the information referring to archaeological or historical objects, shipwrecks and sites. This paper aims to explain the logic structure of the database indicating the particular needs of the research, the different typologies of items which have to be managed (archaeological and historical objects; ancient, medieval or modern shipwrecks; underwater sites; written or figurative sources, etc.), the relation with other similar databases and projects. The main task of this part of Thesaurus is to plan and organize an IT system, which will allow archaeologists to describe information in detail, in order to make an efficient managing and retrieving data system available.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2014, 25, 51-69; doi: 10.19282/ac.25.2014.03
Solone: una banca dati delle norme per il patrimonio culturale. Roma e la Tarda Antichità
Anna Anguissola, Denise La Monica, Stefano Cresci
Abstract
The Athenian statesman, lawmaker and poet Solon has given his name to a database related to the European legislation on art and cultural heritage. The database Solone, which is currently in progress and will be published on the Internet (http://solone.sns.it/), was designed and implemented by the LARTTE Laboratory (Interdisciplinary Centre for the Research, Planning, and Management of Cultural Heritage) of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa. The database includes a selection of laws from the Roman period and Late Antiquity (from the 1st century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E.), as well as from several countries that belong today to the European Community (Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Greece), from the 19th century to 2006. In this database data on the individual norms and related institutions have been inserted. Bibliographic information was collected and the relationships between various laws, and the authorities and institutions that issued them have been considered. The database provides the full text of each law, often with one or more translations into Italian or English and a set of details regarding typologies, historical background, validity and jurisdiction, object, and sources. The database makes it possible to conduct research according to typologies, geographical areas or historical sections and institutions. In the present paper, Solone is presented from the perspective of one case study: the digital archive for the legislation on works of art, public and private buildings, roads and aqueducts enacted from the Roman Republic to the fourth Novel of Majorianus on public buildings issued in Ravenna in 459 C.E.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2013, 24, 55-74; doi: 10.19282/ac.24.2013.03
Architetture scalabili per memorizzazione, analisi, condivisione e pubblicazione di grosse moli di dati
Abstract
In this article we discuss a possible architecture to store, analyze and share large quantities of data (also known as Big Data). This data can be structured or not and can be generated from different sources: mobile devices, servers or, in general, sensors. This infrastructure can be integrated with analysis software like R, Solr and many others; it is developed with the cloud computing and its principles in mind so it can scale out easily and is high available. It is based on the Hadoop framework and, in particular, on the HDFS - Hbase store mechanisms (a distributed file system and a NOSQL database). Those repositories are exported with Fuse and are published with a typical Apache HTTP server with the addition of WebDav module. Fault tolerance and load balancing is achieved with HAProxy and Keepalived. All those software are free and open source (FOSS), can be installed on commodity hardware and are constantly updated by a large community of users.
An open source osteological database proposal
Giovanni Magno, Maurizio Marinato, Maria Letizia Pulcini, Marina Zago, Pamela Corsi, Alessandro Canci
Abstract
At the University of Padua, since 2005, after the inclusion of a course in Human Paleontology as part of the degree in archaeology, an osteo-archaeology study team has been active. In order to record in a comprehensive and systematic manner data relating to paleobiological research, an open source osteological database was developed. The database is based on LibreOffice Base, a versatile and easy to use software, as well as a multiplatform. The data is entered and stored in a table within the software, which is freely and easily exportable. The table is visually expressed through eight forms created in LibreOffice Base. The first section collects all information relating to the general biological profile (sex, age at death, stature, etc.) of each individual. The next section, developed only for adult subjects, is intended for the recording of paleobiological data and consists of two different parts, reporting of the possible presence or absence of trauma and/or pathologies. All pathologies, alterations and bone characteristics are listed in detailed form. The final form is intended for recording data about the state of dental health of adult and child subjects. Currently the database is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial - Share Alike 3.0 Italy (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
'Odyssée': représenter l’information au sein d’un système d’information archéologique pour la recherche sur l’habitat rural du Moyen Âge
Abstract
The large amount of documentation made available by ‘preventive’ archaeology led to the setting up of several collective research programs. Aimed at rural settlements during the Middle Ages on a regional level, both ‘région Île-de-France’ and ‘région Centre’ PCR have to deal with handling this documentation. In line with the current PhD work of the author about settlements and agrarian system during the early Middle Ages, a shared reflection on a common information system was launched. Beyond approaches aimed at evaluating archaeological potential or solely focused on inventory, here the goal is to acquire a tool dedicated to research. Moreover, if databases are used on a daily basis by the archaeologist, their use in a collective way leads to the standardization of the manner information is encoded. The aim of this paper is to present the conclusion of this shared reflection, focusing especially on settlement patterns, environmental data and the estimate of reliability of information. The technical choices which helped to minimize costs are also presented.
Construction et diffusion de bases de données partagées: l’expérience de la base des sépultures d’enfants dans l’antiquité
Abstract
Archaeologists are interested in the construction of information systems and in their treatment and increasingly, in the electronic communication of tools. The examples of collective projects which have web sites exist (databases, GIS, computer generated images, etc.). In this paper we shall present the experience of the EMA program which, under the aegis of the National Agency of Research, was responsible for the creation of a database of children’s graves in Antiquity (Center Camille Jullian of Aix-en-Provence, UMR Archaeology and Science of Antiquity of Nanterre, Center of Alexandrine Studies). In association with their partners, the UMR ArScAn designed the tool in continuation of the work on the conception and the ergonomics of the bases of data and images. The EMA base now is shared; at the end of the program it will be opened for consultation, after the consent of each of the researchers involved. At the same time, we shall examine some sites of consultation of databases and the ways in which they respond.
Systèmes d’information archéologique de terrain et fondamentaux de l’enregistrement archéologique: quelques remarques à proposde l’application Stratibase
Abstract
This article illustrates a computerised database for excavation recording called Stratibase which is used by several archaeology teams in France. This is not intended to be a detailed presentation of Stratibase and its characteristics, because this sort of computerised application is at present very commonplace. However, the steps leading to the origin and development of Stratibase are presented along with some conceptual aspects; in fact, through this experience, we arrived at some general conclusions about computerised recording systems used by archaeologists. Our remarks, from an archaeological point of view, concern the need for variety and adaptability in those systems and, at the same time, the necessity for standardized fundamental principles. They also concern the role of the archaeologist in the elaboration of data models.
Esperienze di catalogazione informatizzata del gioiello monetale: trasversalità metodologica ed esigenze di specificità nell’ambito del progetto JiC
Anna Lina Morelli, Erica Filippini
Abstract
From 2008 to 2009 the Department of Archaeology and the Department of Ancient History of the University of Bologna conducted the JiC - Jewellery in Context project. From the beginning, the JiC project pursued among its principal aims the creation and development of a database centred on the systematic census of ancient jewels, ornaments and other precious objects from the Mediterranean area, with specific attention to the context in which each artefact was found. Considering the typological variety and the different chronological, geographical and cultural ambits of provenance of the objects, the creation of an interactive web database - based on an open source server-side system - makes it possible for specialists in several distinct areas of study (Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Medieval Archaeology, Numismatics, History of Art, etc.) to cooperate with each other. In this regard and in order to preserve the specificity of the numismatic evidence in works produced by ancient goldsmiths, each form for the insertion of new records, as defined in the table Objects of the database itself, enables us to enter the description of coins mounted in jewellery. A specific set of fields contains detailed and particular connotations of each coin specimen: physical and technical data (such as metal, denomination, weight, diameter, die axis), information about the issuing authority, chronology, place of mintage, state of preservation, obverse and reverse types, references and further observations.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2011, 22, 35-49; doi: 10.19282/ac.22.2011.02
Un approccio globale, archeologico, archeometrico, informatico, alla schedatura della ceramica a vernice nera della Valle del Tevere
Flaminia Verga, Federica Fabbri
Abstract
This paper focuses on the multidisciplinary charts regarding the sherds of Black-Gloss Pottery found in the settlement of Colle Rosetta (Sabina Tiberina, Rieti, Italy) in the 1970s, which emerged after deep ploughing. At present, the ceramic fragments are kept in the Civic Archaeological Museum of Magliano Sabina. Charts regarding archaeological data were drawn up for all finds (567 samples). Preliminary diffractometric, petrographic, chemical and SEM analyses were carried out on some sherds to confirm their probable local manufacture. In this article we describe how we created a database in which archaeological data have been associated with the results of the laboratory analyses. The interface has a main mask, in which information, conformed to the ICCD standards, concern details of style and topographical-archaeological data of the sherds, and a second one which regards data of the laboratory analyses carried out on the Sabina Tiberina sherds. Data concerning the analyses were entered into the charts to add to our knowledge of the ceramic fragments, and also to contribute to the cultural and technological debate on Black-Gloss Pottery manufacturers in the central Italic area.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2011, 22, 51-66; doi: 10.19282/ac.22.2011.03
La catalogazione nei musei archeologici del Lazio: contributo per una terminologia ragionata
Ilaria D'Ambrosio, Paola Pascucci
Abstract
In 1999 the Museum Service of the Lazio Region, together with the firm Andromeda, set up a database for the archaeological finds in the municipal museums in the region. The project, called IDRA, was created for the purpose of locating and quantifying the archaeological material in each museum. Designed as a client/server system with an SQL engine, IDRA software combines the philosophy of relational databases with object-oriented structures, where the information is organized hierarchically. At this time the database consists of around 17,000 files - provided with digital images and referring to 50 different museums - that are now available on the Culture Portal of the Lazio Region (http://www.culturalazio.it/site/it-IT/Argomenti/Banche_dati_online/). A tentative model used to locate both museums and finding sites through Google Maps has also been made. On the basis of specific agreements with the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Rome a project was initiated for a shared consultation of databases pertinent to different authorities as well as for a common investigation about structured terminology lists. To this aim we have conducted a standardization of terminology related to the entry “Object Definition”, and developed a list of about 500 terms. In the present article we have focused on some of the issues that emerged during our work in order to submit them to public discussion. We deal, for instance, with how to define the state of preservation of the object in relation to its definition; whether and how to use diminutives; how to structure the categories of material so as to define the finds for optimal searching; and how to file objects reused at a later period.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2010, 21, 7-25; doi: 10.19282/ac.21.2010.01
CeraMIS: interactive Internet-based information system on Neolithic pottery
Judith Zöldföldi, Viktoria Leno, Balázs Székely, Veronika Szilágyi, Katalin T. Biró, Péter Hegedűs
Abstract
Most Neolithic pottery, except for some high quality fineware, is thought to be made of local material. However, in order to be able to conclude whether certain types of fineware were contemporaneously imported or not, considerable archaeometric analysis is required as well as the systemization of the acquired data. The development of CeraMIS, an interdisciplinary database management system for analytical results of raw materials for pottery (geological samples of clay and temper) and pottery artefacts (archaeological samples) is modelled on earlier ceramic provenance studies. It is an innovation established as part of a German-Hungarian bilateral project on "Long distance trade in Neolithic pottery". The database management system contains two main components: the SQL database and the software CeraMIS that organizes the storage of data. Applying a logical, already traditional methodological procedure of provenance analysis on archaeological pottery, in this paper results of petro-mineralogical and geochemical investigations of the samples are presented. The collection of results on surface treatment (painting, slip, and other techniques), investigations by non-destructive, high-resolution methods is also an important part of this procedure. Moreover, one of the important features of the database is that of clarifying the differences between analyses made on complete vessels, shards, the clay paste, temper and surface treatments. To present the results of these complex investigations and make the information available to specialists involved in this field of research, we have developed a software solution based on client/server architecture. The client software CeraMIS connects the server via the Internet, so that the user does not need to install any additional software. The database can be queried using traditional search methods. The system is designed in a way that makes further amendments and extensions possible without loss of data. It is updated and tailored according to the experience acquired during its use. The system functionalities, data structure and data content are regularly revised according to the requirements of the users and data providers.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2010, 21, 301-314; doi: 10.19282/ac.21.2010.17
ArcheoTRAC: una web application open source per favorire la diffusione di un modello di gestione ordinaria di tutti i beni archeologici
Abstract
The Superintendency for Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley (Italy), has recently created a new concept information system for the ordinary management of the archaeological and related documental patrimony. ArcheoTRAC is a multi-contextual and interdisciplinary methodological tool, envisioned by field experts to promote and simplify the daily management and recording activity. The system proposes a new and alternative approach which “excludes” cataloguing as a first step in the recording process. Its main aim is to identify every archaeological entity and track its life-cycle. ArcheoTRAC is an open source web application, UMTS/HSDPA and Wi-Fi, which can be supported by different combined technologies as bar code, RFId and control access. This paper discusses the management conceptual model and its innovative methodological approach, the use of which can be greatly expanded by resorting to the open source.
Un’applicazione open source per lo studio integrato del territorio: il progetto PICA
Danilo Demarchi, Giorgio Di Gangi, Chiara Maria Lebole
Abstract
P.I.C.A. (http://www.progettopica.org) is an integrated project based on a broader strategy for the use and appreciation of the transalpine area. Its aim is to preserve and put to best advantage the cultural heritage through informatics and web applications. The territories involved are the Italian areas of the Province of Cuneo (Marchesato of Saluzzo) and the French Departments of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Isère and Hautes-Alpes. These areas not only have in common a homogenous geographic environment, but also a shared cultural substrate, where the Alpine territory always represented a link between different traditions. In a multidisciplinary context this great, the use of open source solutions was the best way to reach project goals and put together this complex scenario using different technological solutions.
Un sistema web-based per la gestione, la classificazione ed il recupero efficiente della documentazione di scavo
Giuliano De Felice, Maria Giuseppina Sibilano, Giuliano Volpe, Eugenio Di Sciascio, Roberto Mirizzi, Giacomo Piscitelli, Eufemia Tinelli, Michelantonio Trizio
Abstract
The use of databases in archaeology is based mainly on the need for a kind of data storage that can both optimize techniques and times for the management of excavation documentation and allow integrated access to all the information collected. In this paper we have described the modelling and development of a web-based system allowing cataloguing, storage and retrieval of different information types. Specifically the system employs PostgreSQL 8.1 as open source Database Management System (DBMS) for repository deploying and managing and Web 2.0 technologies (AJAX, XHTML, etc.) for development of a graphical interface strongly oriented to improve effective user/system interaction.
OS e tecnologie avanzate per la valorizzazione della conoscenza nel settore archeologico
Abstract
The IS discussed here deals with the issues of collecting, organizing and sharing all the information about a find, whether a mobile one or a site, as soon as it is discovered. This kind of information is often considered as individual knowledge or totally unmanaged. The choice of OS platforms enables us to disseminate the solution.
TESS. La banca dati on-line dei rivestimenti a mosaico
Francesca Ghedini, Federica Rinaldi, Paolo Kirschner, Marco Tognon
Abstract
A project undertaken by the University of Padua has developed the new database system TESS for mosaics. This database system meets the national standards required by the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione – ICCD. The database is available on-line thanks to the project «Cultural heritage in the Adriatic area: knowledge, preservation and enhancement», co-financed by the Community Initiative INTERREG III A – Adriatic Cross Border Programme. In detail, the database TESS includes informative files regarding Building and Rooms, Location, relevant Bibliography and Mosaic Pavement. Each file contains plans, designs and photographs. Furthermore, all the fields have a list of univocal and exhaustive terms in the Italian language. The mosaics database aims to provide a key working tool for the identification of the origins of iconographic themes, their geographic distribution and the development of local fashions which vary according to the context. The software was developed on a FileMaker client/server environment to achieve these key goals: multiplatform availability (Windows/Macintosh), multiuser capability and remote connectivity. Making wide use of the latest tools included in FileMaker 8, the development group created a smart and complete GUI to access the complex data structure, and at the same time implemented a stringent control of user privileges by setting data-related group policies. The result is a powerful middleware application that allows data entry, analysis and publication to geographically distributed operators and will provide data consultation to other users through normal web browsers.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2007, 18, 13-43; doi: 10.19282/ac.18.2007.02
Vasa Rubra: un catalogo informatizzato per le terre sigillate di Iulia Concordia
Abstract
The Vasa Rubra project started a couple of years ago with the aim of cataloguing and studying all the terra sigillata wares found in the ancient Roman town of Iulia Concordia, now called Concordia Sagittaria (VE). The first step in this project was the creation of a database able to respond to requirements, which were both scientific and aimed at protecting the archaeological objects. The process of creating the database, entirely dedicated to archaeologists, represented an opportunity to reflect on the use of databases in archaeology and for analysing the interaction between computers and users. Even if it continues to maintain its original meaning of tool, without becoming the final aim of the research, this database has demonstrated its usefulness for collecting data about the terra sigillata of Concordia, and has improved and facilitated the scientific study which followed.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2007, 18, 45-56; doi: 10.19282/ac.18.2007.03
Pre-Biblio, bibliografia georeferenziata della Preistoria e della Protostoria italiana: struttura del progetto e primi risultati
Abstract
The paper presents the new relational database Pre-Biblio on the Prehistory and Quaternary geology of Italy. It will be mainly composed of two correlated databases, «sites» and «bibliography» and some others such as the biographies of the most important scholars, the taxa of fossil remains contained in the sites, the palaeobasins. Each bibliographic reference will be linked to sites, which will be georeferenced on the 1:25.000 topographic maps of the «SIGEC» GIS system of the Ministry of Culture. An accurate survey of Italian and foreign literature regarding archaeology, vertebrate palaeontology, geology and related sciences from Villafranchian to Early Iron Age has been conducted in the most important libraries of Italian Institutions specialized in Quaternary studies and Prehistory. An estimated total of about 25,000 sites, 60,000 references and 800,000 links represents the core of the project, which could be concluded in five years with a team of eight specialists. The paper also provides a preliminary appraisal of the chronological distribution of published sites covering the whole Italian territory, according to which the protohistory (Bronze and First Iron Ages) accounts for half of the estimated body of data.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2007, 18, 57-74; doi: 10.19282/ac.18.2007.04
Prospettive mediterranee dell’economia romana. L’apporto di una banca dati
Abstract
As part of the FIRB 2001 Project, a computer research project on Roman merchants who worked in the Mediterranean area from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD was commenced. Data about the single businessmen were gathered from inscriptions (first of all instrumentum domesticum) and literary sources (both Greek and Latin); data were processed in a relational database, which is briefly described here. This paper, by way of an example, considers merchants who lived during the Republic (over 250 people) and focuses on the economic and social aspects of their activity. Painted inscriptions (tituli picti) or graffiti on Roman amphorae, stamps on amphorae stoppers and marks on anchor stocks inform us of the names of many traders (most of all ingenui or freedmen) involved in the transport and sale of goods such as wine and olive oil. Other inscriptions (mainly epitaphs or religious dedications) refer to a lot of tabernarii who worked in Rome, in other towns of Roman Italy or the Provinces during the late 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Some data from literary sources are also available, mainly concerning important businessmen who operated in the whole Mediterranean basin.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2007, 18, 383-403; doi: 10.19282/ac.18.2007.21
Ploes: percorsi tra archeologia, storia e tecnologie informatiche
Lorenza Camin, Antonietta Marini, Antonella Negri
Abstract
The systematic study of imports from the Orient uncovered in funerary contexts, as part of a research project the purpose of which is the reconstruction of the trade and cultural relations between the Aegean and the oriental basin of the Mediterranean in the Early Iron Age, has been supported by the relational database Ploes carried out in a MsAccess 2000 environment. Ploes represents an example of the possible meeting point between computer science and historical-archaeological research and testifies to the contribution that the computer science technologies can also offer to studies of the traditional school. The digital archives, that have replaced the conventional catalogue, have allowed the management of great amounts of data (1000 imported objects distributed in 300 tomb contexts) in a way that is functional for the purposes of research thanks to the possibility of creating a multiplicity of paths for reading the material. The Ploes database has allowed the storage of data related to individual objects and their discovery contexts in a single archive, thus making it possible to adopt a contextual approach to the analysis of the archaeological documentation. The structure of the digital archives reflects the defined methodological plan at the level of theoretical formulation of the study project: Ploes represents therefore not simply a container of information but an indispensable research instrument.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2006, 17, 157-175; doi: 10.19282/ac.17.2006.10
Charun. Una banca-dati per le urne etrusche, con Appendice di M. Novelli
Abstract
The Etruscan demon that guided and protected the deceased in the underworld has given his name to a database related to funerary urns produced in northern Etruria (Chiusi, Volterra, Perugia) during the Hellenistic period and often characterised by figurative decorations. The database, called Charun, is at this time dedicated entirely to monuments from Chiusi and is published on the Internet (http://charun.sns.it/). In this database data on the urns, the tombs in which they were found and the related grave goods, have been inserted. Bibliographic information has been collected and the relationships between the various typologies have been considered for each of the artefacts. From a particular urn it is possible to locate the data related to the tomb in which it was found, or from a particular set of grave goods one can find information concerning the specific objects which it included. The most detailed entries are those based on inscriptions, which are particularly common on objects from Chiusi. The web site includes interactive maps which are useful for locating the sites where the urns were found and for analysing their distribution.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2005, 16, 7-40; doi: 10.19282/ac.16.2005.01
Le monete fenicie e puniche in Internet: appunti per un sistema integrato di informatizzazione
Abstract
The ever increasing presence of websites dedicated to antique numismatics and in particular to auctions of coins has raised the question of how this kind of material should be handled and the need to create highly specialised websites on a scientific level capable of monitoring, examining and organising the bulk of material circulating on the Internet. As far as Phoenician and Punic coinage is concerned, ISCIMA is in the process of setting up on-line a complete and thorough computerised database which is also part of its advanced studies program related to the early Italic civilisation of the Mediterranean basin. This streamlined database will group together all the websites dealing with Phoenician and Punic coins and provide a scientific bibliography of all the material concerning this subject.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2005, 16, 41-57; doi: 10.19282/ac.16.2005.02
S.I.R.A.X. Sistema informatizzato per l'archiviazione e gestione delle lastre radiografiche di beni culturali
Giuliano de Marinis, Fabio Milazzo, Alessandro Di Maggio, Agnese Guadagno, Marusca Pasqualini
Abstract
The S.I.R.A.X program was conceived in order to create organised and consultable archives of X-ray radiographs. In 2003 in fact, the Archaeological Superintendency of the Marches Region set up an X-ray camera and inaugurated an important project to catalogue the 3000 X-rays taken by the Archaeological Superintendency of Tuscany between 1970 and 2000. This is one of the most important X-ray archives in existence and the Restoration Laboratory of Ancona conceived the S.I.R.A.X. program in order to reorganise it along with the other X-rays which they had taken themselves. S.I.R.A.X. is organised along two main lines: the management form is for data entry activity and the creation of an identification card for a more detailed individual report; the consultation mode facilitates the information retrieval. The program presents a simple and immediate interface which is easy to use, not only by experts but also by people not usually involved in this kind of activity. In accordance with this plan, S.I.R.A.X. will be made available on the Internet as soon as possible.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2005, 16, 59-81; doi: 10.19282/ac.16.2005.03
Seriazione ed epigrafia: l'impiego di BASP (the Bonn Archaeological Software Package) nello studio di iscrizioni
Abstract
By editing the Monumenta Linguae Messapicae (Wiesbaden 2002), realised between 1996 and 1999 at the University of Tübingen as part of a DFG Project, a new software, developed and widely used in the archaeology field, was for the first time improved for epigraphic aims: the Bonn Archaeological Software Package (BASP). In detail, the 'seriate' tool, which is included in the Package, enables the chronological ordering of inscriptions coming from defined contexts, sequencing the Units (=Inscriptions) by a principle of association of similar letter types. A chronological oriented track chart ('Streugraphic') is the result of the processing, where single epigraphic phases can be distinguished and observed: each phase can moreover be dated, if acceptable dating sources are available for some items. The new software tool can open interesting research output for Epigraphy, since it makes possible the drawing of chronological grids of inscriptions by stable coordinates. Furthermore, the insertion of new inscriptions in the chart and their relative chronological assignment can easily be obtained with the new method.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2004, 15, 257-266; doi: 10.19282/ac.15.2004.16
Monete e testi. Il cartaceo e l'immagine
Abstract
The case of the peculiar kind of jewellery with coins made by the XIX century Castellani manufactory from Rome, is the reason why a program of data elaboration has been implemented, to manage a quantity of written information (archives and figurative and technical descriptions) together with images: five different sheets are needed to join all the main elements. On this basis, an analogous database can be developed to investigate texts such as the XVI century manuscript by Pirro Ligorio, where coins are used to write a historical prosopography illustrating by means of drawings the history of the most famous old men. However, the coins are not always reproduced in the right way or the same coin is used on different occasions: a program like this can detect these cases. Computer analysis together with traditional humanistic research, will achieve, on a historical basis, remarkable results.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2004, 15, 287-296; doi: 10.19282/ac.15.2004.18
La catalogazione promossa dalla Regione Lazio nei musei archeologici: dalle schede di carta alla banca dati condivisa
Ilaria D'Ambrosio, Alexander Drummer, Paola Pascucci, Fabrizio Rusca
Abstract
In 1998 the Museums Service of the Lazio Region began a project to set up a database for the archaeological finds ('RA' files) preserved in the museums of this area. The intention was to provide a simple means for locating and quantifying the finds preserved in each museum for the use of museum directors, regional offices and any external users. A management software programme - IDRA, developed by the firm Andromeda - was chosen with this in mind. Data structuring and normalisation methods to reach the necessary level of standardisation were defined during a series of meetings between archaeologists. These meetings produced a proposal for regulations in addition to those drawn up by ICCD in 1992, also including a section devoted to faunal remains from archaeological sites. The software was configured, with suitable adaptation and integration, on the basis of the specific requirements that emerged during the work. It was also designed to combine scientific correctness, data normalisation and compliance with national cataloguing rules, as well as being a functional and easy-to-use application. IDRA is designed as a client/server system with an SQL engine. As regards the database organisation, the system combines the philosophy of relational databases with object-oriented structures, in which the information is organised hierarchically. This enables data to be associated logically and permits the description of complex structures, such as those relative to the archaeological objects in question. Since it was felt that the use of a 'stand-alone' software would render much of the efforts towards the normalisation and definition of terminology lists useless, a databank sharing system will be introduced, with centralised 'management' in regional offices and diverse access levels for users. Today the database consists of about 10,000 files for 27 museums, soon to be completed with the relevant digital images. An assessment of this initial stage is currently a priority, also by means of comparison with other databases for a more accurate and selective compilation of terminology lists, while another priority is the experimentation of network connections for database sharing with each individual museum.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2003, 14, 33-71; doi: 10.19282/ac.14.2003.02
Un sistema informativo archeologico: l'applicazione del Syslat a Fratte di Salerno
Alfonso Santoriello, Francesco Scelza
Abstract
Some years ago, the chair of Archaeology of the University of Salerno, in cooperation with the Soprintendenza Archeologica and the Amministrazione Provinciale, began a methodical research program on the ancient settlement of Fratte. This settlement is situated on the hill of Scigliato, in the north-eastern part of Salerno on the Irno River, at the confluence of the Pastorano and Grancano streams. Since 1985 the archaeological area - partly rediscovered in the 50’s and immediately expropriated, enclosed and set aside as a park - has been the subject of a new systematic research project aimed at defining the chronology and the town-plan and understanding the monuments and their functions. Thanks to new scientific knowledge, since 1995 the research project, which is still in progress, has defined two principal aims. Firstly, strictly scientific, to acquire and organise as much information as possible in order to reconstruct the geo-morphological dynamics and human activity involving the entire territorial context of the ancient settlement. Secondly, to develop the archaeological park, which is considered a key element for the improvement of the neighbouring urban areas. As the information about the scientific methods and documentary records from the beginning of this century until now was not homogeneous, it was necessary to plan a new strategy for the management and systematic organisation of all the records that would guarantee consistent documentation. For this purpose we suggest using Syslat, which was created specifically for the recording of archaeological data, as the most reliable system for guaranteeing a standard of consistent documentation, description and global analysis of all records (e.g. Stratigraphic Units, map-making, photos, reports, etc.). This can also be used for the organisation and handling of all information which emerges during research projects using statistic and quantitative methods. Moreover, the possibility of connecting individual data-bases for different sites will make it possible to project each dossier on the largest scale, i.e., on a “regional” level. This information system, which has been tested since 1983 at the proto-historic site of Lattes (Herault, France) by a team of researchers from CNRS (M. Py, M. Bats, J.L. Fiches) was adopted by the Laboratorio di Archeologia using the earliest versions in order to test its effectiveness and to optimise the results. Continuous exchange of ideas and comparison of results between the French team, the “Centre J. Bérard” and the Istituto Orientale of Naples have allowed us to elaborate a “personal” application, which is specifically suited to the theoretical organisation and to the specific and complex requirements of archaeological research in Fratte.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2000, 11, 69-92; doi: 10.19282/ac.11.2000.03
Il sistema di gestione degli archivi nello scavo di Poggio Imperiale a Poggibonsi. Una soluzione all'interno della "soluzione GIS"
Abstract
Designing a database to fit the needs of an archaeological excavation meant creating an open architecture capable of adapting to the evolving aspects of our research project (in range of data as well as in level of detail); this, together with the complete integration within the global system developed at our Laboratory, were the first aims we pursued in building our solution. The DBMS, based on an open ID system, can be considered a large data container which is continuously updated in its structure; it allows us to easily build relational indexes, increase the level of data detail and create new table and forms in order to manage new types of data. Essential aspects of this solution are total control over data consistency and data vocabularies, a self-made and user-friendly interface, and the possibility of managing multiple projects together. The automation of many repetitive tasks through programming also helps archaeologists in elaborating their data in order to produce information (the elaborated finds quantification and frequency routines are a good example).
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2000, 11, 125-137; doi: 10.19282/ac.11.2000.06
L'archivio ceramografico dell'Università di Catania ed il Progetto Post-Paralipomena
Filippo Giudice, Simona Barberi, Sebastiano Barresi, Maria Randazzo
Abstract
Since 1995, F. Giudice, professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Catania, has donated a corpus of published and unpublished Attic figured vases (about thirty thousand files). The progressive updating of the archive and the stylistic analysis of the new vases (Post-Paralipomena Project) has allowed prof. Giudice’s team to study the new data of trade of Attic figured pottery across the Mediterranean. According to the method presented in 1993 («Archeologia e Calcolatori» n. 4), the Mediterranean area is divided in 13 areas and 47 sub-areas; for each of them a system of histograms shows the presence of Attic pottery in the whole area and in the single cities with particular attention paid to the chronology. As an example, this paper analyses the distribution in the Iberian peninsula.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1999, 10, 79-88; doi: 10.19282/ac.10.1999.06
The Beazley Archive's Information Technology programs in classical archaeology, 1988-1998
Abstract
The author offers a summary of the research work carried out over the last decade at the Beazley Archive, which consists of two inter-related parts: a traditional paper archive and electronic programs. The electronic programs began in 1979 with a database of Athenian figure-decorated pottery. The structure of the database was based on extensive “catalogues”, which Beazley had compiled and published in many editions from the 1920s through the 1960s. Since 1992 the Beazley Archive has been able to include in its electronic services other types of objects Sir John Beazley had recorded in his personal archive, for example, sculpture and engraved gems. In 1998 the Beazley Archive was selected as a suitable site for testing new techniques of watermarking and digital finger-printing; with the availability of several means of image protection the Beazley Archive launched a multimedia version of the pottery database on the Web. With the experience gained from adapting the pottery database for the Web, the Beazley Archive has taken the decision to use this platform for programs about other types of classical archaeology and art.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1999, 10, 117-123; doi: 10.19282/ac.10.1999.09
Coping with complexity. Towards a formalised methodology of contextual archaeology
Abstract
The present paper draws attention to the problem of describing contextual information using an object-oriented approach to relational database techniques. Initially, it outlines the basic theoretical concepts for a structured description of complex information in a relational database. The insight gained from this exercise is used to demonstrate how a generalised object-oriented solution may be implemented using a standard relational DBMS. The implementation called GARD is an all-purpose recording system, where the user can create a particular database structure through its interface without making changes to the underlying table structure, and modify the database as needed parallel to the recording of data. Finally, an example using decorated bowls from the Danish Neolithic shows how complex relational information may be handled. This information has been entered into GARD and extracted again for analysis.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1999, 10, 125-144; doi: 10.19282/ac.10.1999.10
La prevenzione per la conservazione del patrimonio librario e documentale: proposta di un modello di sistema informativo
Salvatore Lorusso, Fernanda Prestileo
Abstract
Until recently the preservation of the library heritage has been a very difficult task: conservation policies have been mainly interested in undertaking urgent restoration measures without carrying out prevention measures. Indeed, an effective conservation policy must be followed in order to ensure all protective measures are undertaken for the removal of dangers and for the insurance of a suitable environment. In this way, restoration measures, that represent a traumatic event for a work of art, could be avoided. Therefore it is highlighted the need to create a “risk map” for library heritage. This risk map should be a tool capable of selecting instruments for conservation, restoration and preservation and allowing a correct choice both for objectives and methodologies and the limitations of the essential measures. The risk map will be able: to give extensive answers to a number of key questions for the setting up of conservation policies; to give advice for the better planning of conservation and restoration measures; to help deciding between a routine measure or special maintenance, control and monitoring of typical situations; to manage economic resources without wasting of public and private money.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1999, 10, 331-342; doi: 10.19282/ac.10.1999.22
"Archeologia e Calcolatori": dieci anni di contributi all'informatica archeologica
Abstract
This article describes the research work which is now being carried out in order to classify bibliographic information, related to the field of computer applications in archaeology, that is published yearly at the end of «Archeologia e Calcolatori». During the examination, information was recorded in a database using Access software. For classification purposes, particular attention was devoted to the research topic dealt with in the publication, which was divided into two separate sections: “subject field classification” and “computer typology classification”. One example of the way in which it is possible to consult the database on-line is now available on the Internet site of this Journal. In conclusion, the author describes the results obtained from a statistical analysis of data from the 266 articles which have been published over the last ten years in «Archeologia e Calcolatori».
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1999, 10, 343-352; doi: 10.19282/ac.10.1999.23
The knowledge of territory in ancient civilizations temples and sacred sites as prehistorical geodetic networks?
Lucia G. Gregori, Giovanni P. Gregori
Abstract
A hypothesis is proposed dealing with the way by which ancient societies could get knowledge and control of their territory, by means of some kind of a former “geodetic” network, conceived as some basic frame reference for orientation of travellers. Mythology was a practical and effective tool for training people. Zodiacal signs appear to be almost some kind of “universal” former “alphabet”, suitable either for characterizing every given town, or for measuring angles of any kind, or for assisting a traveller in his orientation. In the Aegean Sea the natural reference points were the islands themselves. In western Anatolia and Greece, they set up a system of temples and sacred sites. In Egypt, possibly, there was a network of obelisks and pyramids and in other areas there was something equivalent. Some observational evidence is already available, and proposed interpretation can already be found in literature, dealing either with the Anatolian-Aegean-Greek world, or with ancient Egypt. In any case, ancient Greeks were apparently capable of estimating the latitude of a site with high precision (+- 0.05° latitude, equivalent to -+5 km on Earth’s surface; standard deviation). These topics are briefly reviewed here. Then, it is shown how a suitable file containing the latitude, longitude, and dedication of all temples and sacred sites of a given area (or the location of obelisks and pyramids that existed in Egypt) can allow for the creation of a formal analysis capable of assessing whether such a hypothesis is only a simple although fascinating speculation, or whether it is supported by objective observational evidence.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 193-212; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.15
Informatica ed elaborazione dei dati archeologici
Abstract
The paper illustrates the computing section of a Strategic Project for the development of research methods applied to the study and safeguarding of the archaeological heritage of southern Italy. The project has been launched by the Italian National Research Council at the University of Lecce. The scientific aim of the system is the management of excavation data relating to problems emerging from the study of settlements. The system is characterised by: a) the integration of alphanumeric data, graphical data (site plans, archaeological maps) and images; b) the application of quantitative analysis. The system has been tested with the input of information from the excavation of sample sites at Otranto, Vaste and Oria (Italy) and Hierapolis (Turkey). The end result is a series of thematic and chronological maps of the settlements, which are of particular importance for centres such as Otranto which are under continuous pressure from building development. “Risk maps” have also been produced, which indicate areas where archaeological action is most urgent. The results form the base upon which we can construct a functional relationship between town councils, Superintendencies and the University so as to take the necessary steps that will avoid the sort of destruction of archaeological areas that has taken place over the last few years.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 259-268; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.21
GIASONE. Gestione integrata dei materiali archeologici
Claudio Arias, Francesco Caruso, Alessandra Giampietri
Abstract
An information system for the management of archaeological remains is presented here; it derives from the experience of the “Laboratorio di Informatica Archeologica - Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche - Pisa”. The guidelines followed during the project phase and the characteristics that make this system a reliable tool for work and research are examined. Finally, a possible evolution of the system is foreseen in order to improve access and diffusion of the data.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 269-278; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.22
Proposal for systematic recording of archaeological excavations
José Antonio Esquivel, José Antonio Peña, Fernando Molina, Francisco Contreras, Ignacio Rodríguez
Abstract
In this work we use an archaeological information system to record and manage data coming from an excavation. The system includes the excavation methodology, the geographical reference of archaeological elements, the settlements and elements denomination, the directories and files structure and the computer organisation. The authors develop a computer software based on PARADOX to record the archaeological information, including textual documentation, CAD maps and images.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 279-289; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.23
Field recording techniques for excavating neolithic sites
Abstract
The field excavation techniques of Neolithic sites have changed during the past two decades. With these changes, data recording procedures have also changed profoundly. A method of merging excavated horizontal levels and reconstructed layers is presented here, and the respective database structures are developed. The results of the advanced finds analyses revealed the patterning of site refuse in large Neolithic pit-complexes. Finally, a proposal for a relational database is developed.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 291-300; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.24
Dynamic classification and description in the IDEA
Abstract
In the fifties and sixties it was assumed that a generalised and detailed descriptive system for archaeological materials could be constructed, and that this system could be transferred to a computerised symbolic representation. In the early seventies this position was abandoned as it was realized that data are theory-dependent and problem-specific. As a consequence it has been widely accepted that databases containing archaeological data are bound to be highly individual and short-lived. With the increasing number of IT based archaeological recording systems, the inherent heterogeneity becomes a hindrance for archival purposes and effective management of archaeological projects. It is also, however, an obstacle for a formalized methodology, because researchers end up with pragmatic ad hoc solutions, which often shoehorn the recordings into rigid data-structures. The IDEA (the Integrated Database for Excavation Analysis) is to solve this problem. Through a database meta-structure and a user-friendly interface IDEA offers the researcher the possibility to implement a problem-specific description of archaeological objects, but at the same time stores data and data-definitions in one underlying structure, regardless of chosen solution. In this paper we describe how we have solved the problem of creating a database structure capable of holding widely diffused classifications and descriptions.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 591-602; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.46
DEDALO: l'informatica applicata alle relazioni Egeo-Italia nell'età del Bronzo
Abstract
A long-standing project concerning the study of the Bronze Age interrelations between the Aegean and Italy, in progress at the Istituto per gli Studi Micenei ed Egeo Anatolici, has stimulated the creation of an appropriate database. The relational database DEDALO is composed of six different files (1. sites, 2. excavation, 3. areas, 4. contexts, 5. finds and 6. bibliography), where information on the archaeological evidence related to Aegean-type material found in Italy is stored. The basic units of the structure are the sites where one or more Aegean items have been found. Although the entries of the fifth file, concerning items, are very detailed, DEDALO is not particularly object-oriented, but rather aims to integrate geographic, environmental, archaeological, chronological and archaeometric data, focussing on the relationship between the Aegean-type object (seen as the exception in its context) and the local Italian communities of the Bronze Age.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 623-628; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.49
Copper Age cylinders from Portugal: a data base
Maria da Conceição Monteiro Rodrigues
Abstract
The aim of this work is to illustrate a database in which we have recorded a great number of archaeological objects. The example is made with 303 figures from Portugal which the archaeologists name “cylindrical idols”. The first step was to choose the vocabulary and organize it in a hierarchical form. Our tree form has three chapters, some sections and subsections that form the base of the system; in the second step, the programme Access was used to describe the cylinders. When the recording was finished, the following questions were posed: a) What is the provenance of the Portuguese cylinders?; b) What is the main raw material?; c) What is their typology?; d) What is their geographical distribution? The answers were reproduced in the form of a graphical picture in which the results can be observed. These results are confronted with M. Gimbutas’ interpretation about these cylinders over Western Europe. Our conclusion disagrees with Gimbutas as in Portugal the figures appear in Copper Age contexts, whereas Gimbutas states that the cylinders were used during the Neolithic. This thesis was linked to the concept of the “Eve Goddess”, although the Kurgans that seem to have introduced the metal in Portugal held the sun as a principal religious symbol.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 661-680; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.52
Étude technologique de la sculture ibérique en pierre. Base de données documentaire
Juan Blánquez Pérez, Lourdes Roldán
Abstract
This work describes the technological study of Iberian sculpture, which is little developed in Spanish archaeology. To start the investigation, it was necessary to review the traditional archaeological documentation. In the same way, it exposes in detail the method of work that has been used in an ambitious project of investigation carried out in the Autonoma University of Madrid. For this project, we have built a specific database for the management of the vast and different documentation. The program was conceived to manage three kinds of information: item description, bibliography and pictures, all of them related by Escultur Program (Clipper language). In the creation of this program, maximum flexibility was also needed in the management of information, including the permanent integration of the three databases. Therefore, each sculptural piece is associated to its individual study, to the corresponding bibliographic references and to the graphical images made or remade, that are recorded in their respective databases. The result obtained through the use of the program offers the possibility of relying on three files of fundamental data to be able to plan and resolve archaeological problems in relation to the technological interpretation of the Iberian sculpture. In synthesis, they concern: the cataloguing and description of materials; bibliographic database; storage and management of images.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 681-691; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.53
A "TreeTexT" and pictures manager as a personal tool for object-knowledge representation in classical archaeology and history of art
Abstract
“TreeTexT” is a formal language developed for describing the real objects (or monuments) of classical archaeology and history of art. It works with the “partitive” relation (i.e. between the whole, its parts and subparts) in order to permit the handling of complex objects such as Greek or Roman temples. A “thesaurus” allows to establish terminologies based upon the “generic” relation (i.e. between more or less explicit descriptors). A software package manages not only a specific textual retrieval at every described detail level of complex objects but also possibly related pictorial information.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 703-711; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.55
P.E.T.R.A.E. Hispaniarum
Alain Bresson, Milagros Navarro Caballero
Abstract
P.E.T.R.R.A.E. Hispaniarum, The general project PETRAE, developed at the Centre Pierre Paris, is a recording programme of Greek and Latin inscriptions. Its aim is the computer-based management of all information regarding inscriptions, such as monument, text, bibliography, and the creation of indices. All information recorded in the database can be performed by queries and retrieved; they can also be prepared in a few seconds for printing in RFT format. The programme permits also the management of inscription images. The programme PETRAE Hispaniarum is a PETRAE sub-programme. Its final aim is the collection in a single database of all inscriptions relevant to the Iberic peninsula. The database is implemented with the assistance of a series of Spanish, Portuguese and French research centres. The recording system is completely decentralized and allows each research centre to operate individually. The PETRAE equipe has already published four works in traditional form (but using computerised editorial techniques), one of which forms part of the PETRAE Hispaniarum collection.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 735-742; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.58
Amphora epigraphy: proposals for the study of stamp contents
Abstract
This paper deals with the theoretical aspects of the manufacturing of study models through computer database programs for the instrumentum domesticum, especially in the field of Roman amphora stamps epigraphy. The stamps from the Dressel 20 amphora (Spanish olive-oil typology), of which we have thousands of examples spread principally over Rome and Western Europe, have been used as documentary information to compose the theoretical criteria. The proposed concepts for the study of stamps are the following: the "concept structure", which serves to codify and group the stamps according to their graphical image; the "concept codex" aims to codify and analyse the present elements on every stamp; the "concept family of stamps" allows to relate family groups of stamps (like variants of individuals, a workshop, or a production region). The proposed model can be used for every type of amphora stamp. We, however, recommend to principally use it on the information obtained from workshop regions, the only site from which we can decipher the complex meaning of the stamp text.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 751-770; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.60
GHISA: programma informatico per la elaborazione dei testi cuneiformi in lingua hurrica
Abstract
Beside the publication of the whole texts according homogeneous groups with different glossaries, the program of Hurrian inscriptions Corpus (ChS) is aimed at assembling in transcription form all the cuneiform texts in Hurrian languages from the imperial archives of Bogazkoy (Part I) and from the other archives of the Ancient Near East (Part II). For this reason a software called GHISA (Glossario Hurrico, Ittito, Sumerico ed Accadico) has been created; this permits the elaboration of texts and the production of glossaries and thesauri of the various languages included in the texts (Hurrian, Hittite, Sumerian and Akkadian). The first output of the glossary and the thesaurus will be presented in alphabetical order (function "A" automatic), and following a morphological basis (function "R" reasoned) which can be continually updated. The collection of the whole transliterated material, as well the glossaries, will be published in the volumes of the Hurrian Corpus, while the thesauri will be a consultation tool for textual analysis and linguistic interpretation.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 787-793; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.62
Il progetto CAIE (Corpus Automatizzato delle Iscrizioni Etrusche)
Abstract
The CAIE project aims to create a database collecting all the Etruscan monuments with inscriptions and to give, at the same time, critical importance not only at the text but also at the extra-linguistic context (i.e. elements regarding the origin and characteristics of the inscribed object, graphic peculiarities etc.). The purpose is a new and complex collection of Etruscan texts which, taking advantage of the power of computer databases, can deal at the same time with both information about the monument and its inscriptions; therefore, the program FUL/TEXT has been chosen, as an Information Retrieval System, duly adapted to the graphic particularities of the Etruscan language. At present about 5000 out of 10,000 so far known documents have been already recorded on file.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 795-801; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.63
Archeologia e calcolatori nella prospettiva poli-disciplinare della tutela
Abstract
In cataloguing the growth and refinement of cognitive data lead to a limitation of specialized sectors and in general to a weak comprehensive view of cultural phenomena. Moreover, the use of information systems in the Humanities has promoted the "vertical" investigation rather than the "horizontal" one on the poli-disciplinary horizon. The author, as an art-historian, notices in particular the inadequacy of projects devoted to the establishment of integration among various phenomena related to different cultures and periods of time. Some recent works in the historic-artistical sector of studies have turned again to the archaeological world and to its heritage with a deep sensibility of historicization. In this way they are moving towards a more dynamic cultural dialectic. Therefore the author feels that a collaboration between archaeologists and art-historians is necessary in order to translate their own knowledge into repertories (and therefore in safeguarding tools) and then into more complex historical judgements.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 805-808; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.64
DELTOS: a documentation system for the administration of site monuments and preserved buildings
Chrisoula Bekiari, Theodossia Bitzou, Dimitris Calomirakis, Alexandra Caretsou, Daphne Chronaki, Panos Constantopoulos, Christina Gritzapi, Maria Lagogianni
Abstract
DELTOS II is an information system covering the needs for documentation, conservation and administration of site monuments and preserved buildings. It offers map display, supports large data volume, storage and display of multimedia data (mostly images and free text) and drawing facilities. DELTOS has been developed by the Institute of Computer Science, FORTH, in dose collaboration with the 23rd Ephorate of Classical and Prehistoric Antiquities and the l3th Ephorate of Byzantine and Postbyzantine Antiquities. The system has been installed at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete, Greece and is currently in the initial stage of exploitation.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 821-829; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.66
Integration of distributed databases
Abstract
The Israel Antiquities authority, established in 1990, is responsible for over 25,000 archaeological sites in Israel. Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem is the headquarters of the Israel Antiquities authority (IAA). The IAA began its computerization program in 1991. In 1991 there were a total of five XT computers throughout the IAA al lowing it to facilitate an integrated system between the database used by archaeologists in the field and the database in the central computer of the Rockefeller Museum. Excavator 2001, the database used by archaeologists in the field, is built on a FoxPro database. The database of the central computer is known as the Antiquity System and is built on a Oracle database. In the final analysis our aim is to create a national database consisting of the vast material and objects obtained by hundreds of archaeologists working in the field. In addition to the artifacts and data which are currently being processed and integrated into the new system, we are also in the process of cataloguing hundreds of thousands of artefacts which are discovered and stored prior to the development of the national database system.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 831-835; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.67
L'informatica come risorsa decisiva nella gestione del patrimonio archeologico: le attività dell'Istituto Beni Culturali della Regione Emilia Romagna
Abstract
The author illustrates the activity of Istituto Beni Culturali (IBC), the cultural institution of Regione Emilia Romagna with regard to the use of new technology in cultural heritage. IBC, a unique example in Italy, has created in 1990 a public company to manage the public resources and to coordinate the computerized cataloguing of the regional cultural heritage: the Centro Regionale per il Catalogo (CRC). Since 1993 IBC administers a regional museum fund (L.R. 20/90) and holds a major role in programming the regional policy in the field of local authority museums and cataloguing of museum objects. The Documentation Centre of IBC has elaborated the guidelines for recording information about objects preserved in local museum: our main aim is to provide every museum with a system to perform some essential activities; administration and cataloguing over all. As regards to cataloguing rules we follow the ICCD directives (precataloguing cards) in order to create a regional archive of cultural heritage conserved in museums. As regards software we have chosen an information retrieval system, Odysseus, very flexible and developed in a modular way. Actually Odysseus is used to catalogue museum cultural heritage, to realize data bases for the Internet and to realize archaeological maps.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 837-848; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.68
Il Sistema Informativo Regionale sui Beni Culturali della Lombardia (S.I.R.Be.C.)
Alberto Garlandini, Teresa Medici
Abstract
S.I.R.Be.C. is a multimedia project of Regione Lombardia. It began in 1993 and it is now carried out with the collaboration of twenty four museums, eleven Provinces and seven Dioceses. By the year 2000, the project aims at establishing: - a computerized inventory (data and images) of Lombardy's cultural property; - a regional information system of Lombardy's cultural property, consisting of a central multimedia data base, a regional computer network and a regional documentation centre; - a coordinate network of the documentation centres and the data bases belonging to museums, to public and private institutions and to the Church. S.I.R.Be.C. cooperates with the National Ministry for Cultural Property - Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione I.C.C.D. and with police units aimed at repressing illicit traffic in cultural property.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 849-858; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.69
La collezione numismatica di Francesco Gnecchi. Un archivio informatizzato
Silvana Balbi de Caro, Anna Conticello, Giuseppe Fiandanese, Rosa Maria Nicolai
Abstract
Francesco Gnecchi was one of the most important Roman coin collectors between the XIX and XX Century. His collection, consisting of about 20,000 pieces, was purchased in 1923 without any related document. In 1933 the epistular archive owned by one of the Gnecchi heires was found. The study of the archive allows us to have important information concerning the purchase of pieces and, consequently, their origin. To make possible a systematic analysis, the archive has been stored with a scanner on a computer system and an appropriate retrieval program has been developed.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 859-862; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.70
Un progetto di ricerca e documentazione di siti archeologici situati lungo una linea di costa
Abstract
The project, carried out under the scientific direction of the Istituto di Studi Liguri and the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione, is aimed at the study of 250 archaeological sites located in the coastline facing the Calabria, Sicilia, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise, Marche e Puglia regions. This area offers an homogeneous archaeological context, characterised by itineraries of both commercial and military traffic, which gave rise to trade and settlement phenomena. The research activity involves, for each site, field studies as well as filing and documentation. The project requires also the creation of a database, containing not only alphanumeric but also cartographic data and images. The filing is conformed to the rules established by the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 863-871; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.71
Banca Dati di Pompei. Programma per la consultazione della Banca Dati di Pompei (con immagini delle campagne fotografiche svolte dal 1977 al 1981)
Franca Parise Badoni, Marco Fano, Davide Remotti, Nadia Agnoli
Abstract
The present database was established during the special photographic and documentation survey of the Pompei archaeological area. This survey, promoted and realized by the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione, began in 1977 and until 1981 produced about 25,000 black and white photographs of paintings, floors and objects still in situ, and in the last years, about 4000 colour photographs. The database, initially devoted only to specialised users, contains the alphanumerical files relevant to this photographic survey, and is aimed in primis at the retrieval of images. In order to render the database accessible to a wider public, the programme needed an up-dating, which has been inserted in a more ambitious project, aimed at the creation of a CD-Rom containing the alphanumeric database and a good number of images.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 873-877; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.72
Il progetto ARGOS ad Atene
Abstract
The ARGOS (Archaelogical Greek On-line System) Project proposes to create the most comprehensive bibliography on ancient Mediterranean civilizations and their cultural heritage, through a computerized union catalogue of the archaeological Libraries of the Institutions, foreign and Greek, in Athens. Their joint holdings, amounting to over 500,000 volumes covering the full range of Hellenic studies of all periods, including language, literature and thought, archaeology and history of art, ancient, medieval and modern history, topography, ethnology and folklore, are the most important in this field and are of world interest. By so linking these Libraries, we will make Athens the capital of learning in Mediterranean studies, effectively a new Alexandria. In addition, bibliographic information on articles published in journals and collective works will supplement the database of books. Readers in each Library will have direct access to the entire database, using multilingual menus and a detailed subject thesaurus to learn of bibliography and to locate the Library in which it is held.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 879-884; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.73
The versatility of a conservation database designed on image processing equipment
Abstract
The conservation section of the Antiquities Department in the Ashmolean Museum is currently developing a database for the conservation treatment records as well as the photographs and x-rays, using image processing equipment. 4th Dimension First was chosen for the database as this was the only off the shelf software available at the time, that was capable of handling both text and image based data. The article describes the design of the text database and discusses the positive and negative aspects of the software package as experienced by the conservation team. Also mentioned are applications of the database and its future developments such as the design of the image database. To conclude about the database package, 4D First is a versatile program with a large amount of options, although not always straightforward and user friendly to begin with, it was found that it certainly would do the job well.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 1061-1069; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.91
Le programme ISIS-PART: un partenariat de chercheurs
Abstract
The aim of this article is the description of: 1) the characteristics of the UNESCO's ISIS information system; 2) the general structure of the PART programme realized in Paris at the CNRS, and then developed in Tübingen (Archaeological lnstitute of the University) and Rome (Ecole Française), within an European research programme on la Castellina near Civitavecchia; 3) the use on-line of this database and the characteristics of its application by a group of scholars that are carrying out similar archaeological research.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 1157-1166; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.100
Software engineering applied to the recording system of a classical-age excavation. The creation of B.O.I.R.A
Abstract
The creation of B.O.I.R.A. was brought about through the consideration of a problem that arises amongst every team of archaeological researchers. This problem is the great amount of information that is produced and gathered as a result of the work being carried on. In order that the information should be efficiently controlled and assimilated, the handling of the various data should be done by means of computer software tools. The aim of this report is not to call attention to the data that has been compiled from examples of recording systems of archaeological research published so far, but rather to make known to researchers a different methodology, such as that of Yourdon and the so-called Chen entity-relation design. This is done by using CASE tools in order to develop software systems which are made to measure and are of a high standard, which have been successfully proved in their implementation and use. By way of example, a system has been designed capable of handling data usually dealt with by an archaeological team.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1995, 6, 189-204
L'application NiKita, un exemple de gestion interactive de la documentation archéologique bibliographique sur Macintosh
Abstract
The author presents the project NiKita (Navigation interactive - Kit pour l'archéologie), established with the aim of creating a tool for the interactive processing of archaeological bibliographical documentation. NiKita is a database of easy and intuitive utilisation, developed for Macintosh using the program Hypercard. The principal characteristics of this program are: availability of an “object oriented” programming language; possibility of organizing data in files or stacks, autonomous but correlated; capacity of processing eterogeneous data and different types of graphical formats; availability of a transparent and intuitive interface. The different stacks contemplate: graphical and textual documents related to sites, contexts and objects; Greek and Latin sources related to archaeological units considered; bibliographical references. At present, the file “Bibal” contains about 4500 titles.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1995, 6, 205-224
Il progetto Giunone
Abstract
CThe “Giunone” project concerns the implementation of a numismatical database, designed to become a valid tool for researchers in the field of numismatics and coin collection history. The database was built in conformity with the entity-relationship model and is used in this phase under a Unix System. The task of data entry can be carried out by different people using a programme that works on IBM computers.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1994, 5, 147-157
Archaeological information and computers: Changing needs, changing technology and changing priorities in a museum environment
Abstract
This paper begins with four propositions: there are four basic types of information: data (or more precisely numbers), text (i.e. single words, sentences and longer compositions), images (still and moving), and sound; that computer technology has now advanced sufficiently in power to capture, store, manipulate and retrieve all the types of data listed in the first proposition; that archaeological information is composed of all five types of information outlined in the first proposition; and that since archaeology also has vast quantities of this information it needs computer technology in order to handle it successfully. Given these propositions, this paper describes the purpose of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology and defines three separate roles that result. The historical development of IT applications since the late 1970s is traced, highlighting the mistakes made and the lessons learnt. This culminates in a description of the Ashmolean’s Collections Information System, in particular outlining the structure of the Collections Information Database that underpins the system. The plans for implementing this system are also described. The paper ends by looking at the problems of fully realising this system, and concludes that the plans are really a means of deliberately staying several steps behind the full potential of the technology while still moving forward, so that the Museum can wait for the eventual arrival of software that can provide a seamless transition between various tasks, with a minimum of effort.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1994, 5, 159-174
New fusions: archaeological information in the relational database
Abstract
The potential of the relational database management system (RDBMS) as a means of integrating disparate archaeological data sets is explored, using data recovered from the stratigraphically complex environment of excavations within the city of London. Means of checking and modelling the single context stratigraphies from such sites within the RDBMS are considered, followed by descriptions of techniques developed to allow integration of that model with dating information in order to aid identification of residual and intrusive material. Relational databases are seen to be a realistically accessible technology for archaeological bodies, and are of especial relevance to those working in the increasingly competitive commercial environment of developer funded rescue excavation, as is now common in London and England in general. They offer a means of aiding interpretation through both automating some of the repetitive tasks of site analysis and more importantly by allowing the wider patterns extending across previously discrete data sets to be sought.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1994, 5, 175-201
Concordance in rural and urban database structure: The York experience
Jeffrey Chartrand, Paul Miller
Abstract
Computerised databases form an integral part of much archaeological work around the world, but few of these systems are designed with expansion or compatibility as a prerequisite. This paper investigates the problems of integrating data from a variety of sources, both urban and rural, and then discusses in detail the modular database solution adopted by two archaeological projects at the University of York. The discussed solution enables the integration of data collected from different sources, and at very different scales from the single record per site to the recording of every feature or artefact in more detailed databases. To conclude, the paper touches upon future developments in the field, and their potential impact upon the way in which we store and view archaeological data.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1994, 5, 203-217
Multimedia information systems for East African archaeology
Sebastian Rahtz, Paul Sinclair
Abstract
Archaeology is starting to face the challenges of electronic publication posed by advances in information technology; we are now able to offer almost all types of archaeological data in a single software environment, and have the opportunity to integrate hitherto discrete results. This paper describes the use of the University of Southampton’s ‘Microcosm’ open hypermedia system in an archaeological context. Microcosm is a set of programs running under Microsoft Windows which can support a variety of archaeological data, including databases, digitised site plans and survey data, synthetic text, and GIS images. The example uses the data generated by the Urban Origins in East Africa project, a Swedish-funded initiative to bring together archaeologists from ten East African countries and look at a regional problem. We suggest how the integration provided by multimedia can not only be a vital part of research work, but also be used in publicity, and provide the structure of a genuine regional resource.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1994, 5, 219-236
Un sistema integrato per la gestione della cartografia e dei dati di scavo
Francesco D'Andria, Grazia Semeraro
Abstract
This paper illustrates the computing section of a Strategic Project for the development of research methods applied to the study and safeguard of the archaeological heritage of southern Adriatic Italy. The project was launched by the Italian National Research Council and the University of Lecce. The computing section has as its objective the creation of a system for the management of data pertaining to antique settlements that guarantees the integration of three information supports: alphanumeric, cartographic and photographic. These supports contain data deriving from two interacting research systems: field survey and excavation. The cartographic data is varied: large scale maps, area and site plans, detailed plans of single monuments, stratigraphic sections and feature and layer plans. Software used consists of a relational database and a specific digitised mapping system. The system permits the acquisition of raster images. A global user-friendly interface which permits maximum navigation is in the process of completion. We foresee the principal field of application being the analysis of spatial distributions of artefacts and ecofacts as a basis for synchronic and diachronic cultural analysis.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 159-180
Base de données JUPITER du Département des Antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines du Musée du Louvre: les applications à la céramique grecque
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 221-229
L'informatisation des archives de l'Ecole Française d'Athènes
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 231-234
Documentation of the restoration project for the Acropolis monuments. Creation of a data bank
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 235-236
The Census of antique works of art and architecture known to the Renaissance
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 237-241
DYABOLA - Der kurze und konsequente Weg von einer Literaturdatenbank zur Objektdatenbank
Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ralf Biering
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 245-249
Base de données et banque d'images: l'exemple de la photothèque archéologique du Centre Camille Jullian (Aix-en-Provence)
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 265-268
Observations on the development of art information standards in North America and Europe
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 269-279
Ouvrir à un large public l'accès à une information spécialisée
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 281-286
Applicazioni informatiche nel campo dei Beni Culturali: le esperienze della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 315-321
La catalogazione automatizzata del patrimonio archeologico nazionale in Italia
Serenita Papaldo, Maria Ruggeri
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1993, 4, 323-327
SIRIS - Sistema informativo dei beni culturali e delle fonti documentarie
Margherita Sani, Francesco Lavecchia, Daniela Losi
Abstract
SIRIS (Information system for the reconstruction of historical settlements) is a territorial recording project based on the standards established by the Italian Central Institute for Catalogue and Documentation. Its aim has been to create an integrated alphanumeric, cartographic, iconographic data bank to operate as an informative territorial system pertaining to the cultural heritage of the Emilia-Romagna Region. Information resulting from territorial analyses conducted during the project have been listed, memorised in alphanumeric files or on videodisks (in the case of photos) and then mapped. The research relating to the card-indexing of archivistic and cartographic documentary sources has covered the entire regional territory, while landscape and morphological analyses, cataloguing of architectural works and the study of planning instruments have been carried out in the boroughs of Boretto, Brescello, Gualtieri, Guastarla, Luzzara, Novellara, Poviglio and Reggiolo. All this information is now contained in an integrated multimedia data bank. A microcomputer (VAX) with a standard operating system (UNIX) and a DBMS (INFORMIX) manages the alphanumerical and digital mapping databases and contains the instructions to guide the user through the data banks. A highly developed work station presenting information by means of windows (software X-WINDOX'S) is available to the SIRIS user. Methodologies of human-computer interaction have been developed with particular care in order to achieve a complete and easy-to-use system. The project has been promoted by the Istituto per i Beni Culturali of the Emilia-Romagna Region and In-Systems and Management S.p.A..
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1992, 3, 121-138
Le collezioni archeologiche dell'Opera della Primaziale Pisana. Un sistema ipertestuale per la catalogazione automatica di materiali antichi reimpiegati
Abstract
The aim of the present piece of work is to devise a tool for the computerized handling of information regarding the re-use of classical material in Medieval and Renaissance buildings. In view of the variety, loose structure and complex interrelations of the data in question, and in view of the kind of people likely to be interested in the product (historians, art-historians and archaeologists), hypermedia and hypertextual techniques were adopted. Thus, the software chosen was HyperCard, together with HyperKRS for improved searching. Particular attention was paid to the problems connected with the simultaneous handling of text and images, as well as to the definition of the user-interface and the search and retrieval operations. The pilot study made use of material from the archaeological Collection of the Opera Primaziale of Pisa.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1992, 3, 139-155
CAIE: progetto per un 'Corpus Automatizzato delle Iscrizioni Etrusche'
Maristella Pandolfini, Paola Moscati
Abstract
The authors present the “CAIE” project, carried out at the Istituto per l'archeologia etrusco-italica of the Italian CNR. The aim of the project is the computerisation of the Thesaurus Linguae Etruscae, with the use of an Information Retrieval System, and the association between texts and archaeological and epigraphical information, such as place and way of finding, support object, technical characteristics, chronology and bibliographical references. The choice of the program FUL/TEXT, implemented for IBM PC, is related to the facility of organising the data both in fixed fields, useful for recording archaeological and epigraphical information, and in free format, useful for recording texts. A personalisation of the program was also implemented, above all for solving the problems presented by the Etruscan language. Data bank consultation is foreseen and will allow interrogations to be made also by unspecialised users.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1992, 3, 207-218
Scheda computerizzata per il materiale laterizio bollato
Abstract
This paper presents the computerised epigraphical form which has been used for the cataloguing of the Roman brick stamps in the collection of the Vatican Museums. It has been structured on the basis of the form used for the cataloguing of the Lapidary Collections of the Museo Nazionale Romano. Following the acronyms of the entries, represented by an abbreviation of four letters, this form gives a series of answers written in capital letters, one of these to be chosen depending on each specific case; they are followed by blank spaces destined to contain different data, especially numerical. With the formalised recording of the data through an editor, it is possible to create statistical indices (KWIC and other types) through two programs called S.I.D.E.R.A. and « Epiglossa », written for this purpose.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1992, 3, 219-252
La catalogazione dei beni archeologici e le tecnologie informatiche
Abstract
The author explains the principles applied by the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione for the automatic processing of archaeological data in connection with the tasks of protection and preservation of the national cultural heritage. These principles aim at characterizing each archaeological work and at determining the relationships between these and their territorial context in a global historical dimension. Recent research works, and in particular those (generally disappointing) undertaken in the context of the so called “Giacimenti Culturali”, pointed out the necessity of a conceptual, more than technological, coordination. For this reason some fundamental methodological tools were implemented: “Dizionari Terminologici”, “Strutturazioni dei dati” and photographic inventories published by the Institute.
New thesaurus qualities of ARBOR
Abstract
The author describes new additional qualities of the program ARBOR which allow a less redundant object description and facilitate the setting up and the use of pictorial databases.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1991, 2, 173-178
NIKE: progetto di una base di dati archeologica
Antonia Bianchimani, Maria Cecilia Parra
Abstract
Nike is a computer system to support the archaeologist’s work. It can be used from the early phases of an archaeological excavation: from information gathering, to the actual excavation, up to the elaboration of its results. Nike organises in a single data base both graphical and textual data, in order to facilitate the collection, preservation, maintenance, and retrieval of information. Nike is a highly interactive system, and the navigation in the database depends on the result of the previous choice, according to the logical links present in the data itself, and guided by the specific needs of the researcher
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1991, 2, 179-203
Uno studio per la catalogazione territoriale e architettonica del centro storico di Roma
Abstract
The article explains the theoretical aspects of a cataloguing plan financed in the context of the so-called “Giacimenti Culturali” (Lana 41/86, Art. 15). This work concerns some areas of the city of Rome, in particular, monumental and topographical survey, territorial and architectonical cataloguing techniques, that are discussed here with the aid of computer science. The subsequent development of this plan will have as a fundamental issue the drawing of a prototypal magnetic Forma Urbis, suitable for, the safeguarding of the cultural heritage or for scientific purposes.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1991, 2, 205-220
SQL and Hypertext generation of stratigraphic adjacency matrices
Abstract
As part of an on-going project for a London based Archaeological Information System, work on the automatic generation of stratigraphic adjacency matrices has been jointly undertaken by the Department of Urban Archaeology (MOL) and the Department of Photogrammetry and Survey (UCL). Such a program has been developed on an Apple Macintosh using SQL treewalking techniques (under Oracle RDBMS) and a Hypertext interface which handles graphic presentation and manages rule based drawing conventions (using Supercard object-oriented hypertext). The ultimate goal of this research is the creation of an interactive reporting structure which allows access to many levels of recorded and interpretive site information.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1991, 2, 221-239
Proposta di un sistema ipertestuale per il trattamento della documentazione in archeologia
Pasquale Conforti, Antonio Esposito
Abstract
This article proposes a hypertext technology-based system for the management of archaeological documentation. The system is conceived to give archaeologists the means to have on-line all information about an archaeological context, so that this information is available to more than one workstation. In such a way the archaeologist is enabled to operate in real-time, to extract and manipulate on different levels the information on which the research is based.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1991, 2, 241-250
Le componenti paesistiche negli insedimenti coloniali di Sicilia e Magna Grecia: un ipertesto per la ricerca
Abstract
A set of related historical, geographical and cultural arguments shows that a connection exists between urban planning and territorial morphology for seven Greek colonies in Sicily, namely: Himera, Megara Hyblaea, Siracusa, Gela, Agrigento, Heraclea Minoa, Selinunte. It is discussed here how, in those cases, the neighbouring landscape justifies the geographical location, the site choice, and the displacements of functional and architectural elements in the site. The enlighted connection is concerned with both functional and aesthetical aspects of the landscape. The quantity and complexity of documents led to a different methodology of data analysis and presentation, i.e. the hypertext methodology, which, although not new, has been highly developed in the last few years thanks to the capillary diffusion of computers and especially the flourishing of programmes for the development of hypertext applications.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1991, 2, 251-282
The ARBOR information system for classical archaeology and history of art
Abstract
Archaeological knowledge can be formally divided into object and method knowledge. The former consists of the knowledge of the concrete nature of the individual research objects, and is based on analysis. The latter means the knowledge about how to evaluate the object knowledge with the help of interdisciplinary methods, and leads to historical knowledge as the synthesis. Object knowledge is based on individual observation, and method knowledge on comparison. ARBOR consists of a formal language able to represent textual object knowledge in a computer readable way. A PC-based implementation allows the retrieval on ARBOR-coded objects descriptions in different tree-structure-specific query-modes.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1990, 1, 253-262
ALADINO: verso un sistema computerizzato per lo studio e l'analisi dei dati archeologici
Abstract
ALADINO is a database system created by the Centro di Documentazione of the Istituto Beni Culturali. It was used for data storage and retrieval during the course of the Roman and medieval excavations at Castelraimondo (Udine - Italy). Its distinctive features are flexibility, user friendly interfaces, the use of natural language and the automatic integration of alphanumeric data and images. ALADINO produces distribution maps of data acquired during excavation and allows frequency tables and simple uni- and bivariate analyses. At present, ALADINO has been further improved with new releases and it will be connected with other programs in order to study coarse wares through statistical analyses (cluster, multivariate, etc.) and to further implement a real computer-based information system.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1990, 1, 263-294
Le banche dati dell'epigrafia: esperienze e prospettive
Abstract
The dominant method of working has changed and is changing at an ever-increasing speed, also for the epigraphists: many computer applications are today available to process epigraphical data. This article provides a rapid survey of the major types of computer based projects in epigraphy. The procedure currently used at Bologna is explained here: its purpose is to produce an index of forms in Roman inscriptions. Data entry is still in progress, through the application of a set of utilities that has been written, to allow a two way transfer of data between WS and dBase III.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1990, 1, 295-303
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