Digital resources for archaeology. The contribution of the on-line projects by ISMA-CNR.
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2015-06-09

Authors: Alessandra Caravale, Alessandra Piergrossi

Abstract: Are digital resources now a real support to the work of the archaeologist? What assets on the network can benefit the scholar of antiquities in his patient work of classification and comparison? The paper discusses some examples of electronic resources for antiquity sciences, outlining briefly the lines of development and focusing on databases, on-line publishing, portals useful to carry out research into the history of ancient art and archeology. The paper refers to the activities carried out in this field of study by our Research Institute of the National Research Council, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean, whose ancient origins date back to the late Sixties. Since then specific attention to the so-called “ancillary sciences” of archaeology has been manifested and the CNR has paid particular attention to the methodological renewal concerning archaeology, which started applying new tools for research borrowed from natural and social sciences. With regard to the application of computer techniques for the study and classification of archaeological artefacts, in the early Eighties our Institute gave rise to a dedicated line of research, which found a stable editorial point of reference and a place of convergence for theoretical as well as methodological debate in the international journal "Archeologia e Calcolatori". As regards the data banks, the paper will focus in particular on the recent realization dedicated to the collection of bronzes Faina in the Orvieto Museum, realized using the Content Management System open source “Museo and Web”. This is a system created by the Technological Observatory for Heritage and Cultural Activities of Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism in order to develop and manage high quality web sites devoted to museums or cultural institutions. This tool facilitates the creation of a database of the objects kept in museums and makes use of metadata for the retrieval and access management of digital resources. For the open access publishing policy, ISMA contributes with the “Archeologia e Calcolatori” case. The journal, directed by Paola Moscati, is a peer reviewed open access journal as, since 2005, in addition to the paper format, is also accessible on-line, providing all articles published since 1998 in pdf downloadable and printable. We present also two web sites examples implemented by ISMA researchers, on Cerveteri and the Virtual museum of archaeological computing. The website devoted to the Cerveteri necropolis, was realized in 2004 when the UNESCO declared the Etruscan necropolis of Cerveteri and Tarquinia world Heritage. In this website, apart from the data on the Etruscan town, the territory, the necropolis and the museum, you can consult some virtual itineraries inside the Banditaccia necropolis. The website of the Virtual museum of archaeological computing is managed by Paola Moscati in cooperation with the Centro Linceo Interdisciplinare “Beniamino Segre” of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and some ISMA researchers. This website aims at showing the roots and the development of this discipline, by pointing out the related institutions, studies and main actors, at an international level.