Digital media as an effective platform to archaeological data dissemination
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-01-28

The Unit of Archaeology of the University of Minho (UAUM) start to be concerned about digital preserving of the archaeological data in the nineties, due to the large amount of records (both graphic and alphanumeric) mainly gathered during the rescue excavations carried out in the city of Braga since 1976. In order to facilitate the management and preservation after 1994 all the archaeological records start to be regularly digitized and stored in an Oracle DB. Later in 2000, as part of UAUM’s information system strategy, these data were migrated to a MySQL database. Simultaneously, to ensure a continuous update and management of the data, a web-based back-office was developed using HTML and PHP. This technological independence strategy enabled a controlled growth of the back-office, ensuring modularity, integration and customization facilities according to the user’s needs.

The designed Information System (2ArchIS) supports several modules, which range from the stratigraphy of any kind of excavations to the territory analysis and landscape characterization, connecting the alphanumeric data with images, vector graphics, cartographic documentation and bibliography. Furthermore, it can also integrate data resulting from the analysis and interpretation tasks.
The architecture of 2ArchIS also favours the data exchange with external applications. It is possible to export data to archED and ARCGIS enabling the automatic creation of a graph regarding the stratigraphic matrix and materials, that can be a valuable asset for the archaeological research.
This information system also integrates archaeological 3D models that are created either using constructive solid modelling techniques or computer vision techniques such as structure from motion (SfM) or dense stereo reconstruction algorithms. In fact it is possible to use artefacts, as coins, ceramics or architectural elements both for cooperative research and dissemination purposes.
All the 3D information is important not only for rendering and for 3D representation purposes, but also to be processed with visualization filters to enhance the knowledge about the archaeological record. This data is perfectly compatible to be processed with the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) from Kitware Inc., which is an open-source software system for 3D computer graphics and visualization. Some visualization procedures have already been implemented to filter scalar information of the archaeological data for contouring purposes or even to carry out manual segmentation over a 3D surface.