OpenArcheo2: un sistema informativo per gestire e produrre conoscenza storico-archeologica

OpenArcheo2: an information system to manage and produce historical-archaeological knowledge With the first part of this paper we briefly explore some issues related to digitally recording and analyzing archaeological datasets, following our (neo)processualist approach. Throughout the text we also assess the actual state archaeological information systems and reflect about possible future directions of this kind of methodological research. The main part of our contribution deals with a description of OpenArcheo2, a wholly new archaeological information system developed at Siena University’s LIAAM (Laboratory of IT Applied to Medieval Archaeology). The result is a web application, with an in-progress development schedule, which subverts the usual perspective of solutions dedicated to the management/analysis of “raw” archaeological data, focusing entirely on interpreted informations. Representation of archaeological knowledge becomes therefore the primary objective of OpenArcheo2, as can be clearly seen from the conceptual model and the ontology presented in this paper.