Archeologia e Calcolatori 1 - 1990

The author analyses new methodological trends in the nineties, concerning the evolution of quantitative techniques, and the development of computerised tools. The main role in archaeology of institutional changes and the influence of theorical approaches in Human Sciences are analysed, in order to discover a third way in archaeology.

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

The examination of archaeological documents preserved in the IBM archive outlines the development and the methodological tendencies which characterised, from the end of 1950's until the 1970's, the application of computer science in this field of study. The phases regarding technological development are described, as are the procedures relative to research projects of various subjects, both linguistic and strictly archaeological. These experiences show that, right from the beginning of the application of computers in archaeology, the tendency was to exploit their logical and mathematical potential.

The application of quantitative analysis techniques, widespread in prehistory, still appears little used in the study of historical archaeology. For the most part their application concerns the field of morphometry and typometry of archaeological objects, and especially of ceramic artefacts. A survey of the projects carried out, with emphasis on the analysis of Etruscan artefacts (e.g. stone urns and bronze mirrors), outlines the methodological tendencies and the most used methods and verifies the results obtained through the application of mathematical and statistical analyses.

As well as solving two long-standing theoretical problems, this work shows great potential for the interpretation of ceramic assemblages, and has implications for the way in which pottery is catalogued. Different sorts of interpretation (functional, chronological, distributional) are possible at different levels of grouping (context, phase and site assemblages).

Methodological and statistical aspects of the distribution of Greek imported ware in the archaic period (600-480 a.C.) in Salento are presented here. They form part of a wider research on trade. In order to value the fieldwork intensity and assess the survival conditions of archaeological data, the contexts to which the finds can be provenienced have been analysed. Frequencies of type concerning recovery of artefacts (occasional recovery, systematic excavation, survey, underwater and unclassified), frequencies of contextual types (settlements, cultual places, isolated graves, necropolis, unclassified and anchorage) and frequencies of the exploration degree in the archaeological sites have been studied. Crosstabulations between these classification factors and the quantities of material found in each context have been conducted. These analyses permit us to identify similar contexts from the point of view of archaeological research and to value more fully the phenomenon of interaction and exchange in the Salentine peninsula in the archaic period. Regression analyses were also conducted to study the distribution of Greek colonial ware.

A particular type of multivariate analysis called “fuzzy c-means clustering” was applied to ancient bricks of 44 archaeological sites in the Lagoon of Venice, the remains of historical settlements of the last two thousand years. Each brick is characterized by its three geometrical dimensions, probably related to the local units of measure of the various epochs. The analysis was made with binary data (presence/absence) for the 20 principal types of bricks. The aim was to establish temporal relations among the various sites, some of which have definite temporal reference, allowing both to extend the references to the unknown sites and to evaluate, measuring the depth of the archaeological sites, the trend of the geological subsidence in the Venetian area. The results, compared also with those of a Correspondence Analysis, are, within some limitations, in agreement with the available dating from archivistic sources.

The ARCOS System (ARchaeological COmputerized System), created in Karlsruhe, permits the automatic recording of ceramic objects and their subsequent processing and graphical representation. The System consists of two elements: ARCOS-1 is a mobile configuration for image recording; ARCOS-2 is a stationary data processor. The authors describe in particular the test carried out during the excavations at Velia (Salerno) in the summer of 1987. This test led to the graphical documentation of about 200 ceramic artefacts.

The application of computer science and advanced technologies to the topographical management of archaeological data have made it possible, in the last five years, to adjust an instrument of a strong tradition, such as the “Forma Italiae”, to the new requirements for the planning and protection of a territory. From the application of digital mapping to historical cities, the management of territorial archaeological data, satellite survey and multimedia distribution of information, the development outlook becomes gradually broader, respecting however, the methodological progress achieved during a century of tradition in historical topographical studies.

The trend in the use of computers in the Humanities, unlike taught or social sciences applications, seems to be the coexistence and exchange of many small or medium-size databases (both textual and “factual”) rather than larger ones, developed in big institutions. This requires two main conditions: a common operating environment and standards in the organisation and encoding of data. In archaeology, as in other disciplines, Unix offers a convenient solution for problem 1, and relational database theory for problem 2. An example is given of how a database may be organised and managed exclusively with the native tools of Unix and plain ASCII files.

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.

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.

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.