Internet Archaeology 43: Digital Archaeological Heritage. EAC symposium proceedings

Over the last decades, the new non-invasive techniques employed in archaeological research have developed extensively. This article discusses the most important non-invasive surveys undertaken in the Republic of Moldova during the last two decades. Most were carried out in the framework of international partnerships meant to transfer Western experience and knowledge of modern methods of archaeological research to the Republic of Moldova. Special attention is given to the results of cooperation between Moldovan, German and Romanian archaeologists.

The INSPIRE Directive (2007) mandates European Union countries to share environment-related datasets so that they can be easily accessed by other public organisations within their own and neighbouring countries to inform policies or activities that may impact on the environment. Key to delivering INSPIRE is the establishment of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) providing frameworks for coordinating the policies, infrastructure and standards needed to acquire, process, distribute, use, maintain and preserve spatial data through discovery, view and download services by 2020. Archaeological information is inherently spatial yet, despite the environmental focus of INSPIRE, guidance is limited and ambiguous for archaeological datasets and consequentially there is limited engagement from data curators. Although Protected Sites is an INSPIRE theme, does it cover only those formally designated through legislation or include sites managed through legal or other effective means?INSPIRE publishes data to help inform environmental policies and if data is unpublished there is a risk it will simply be ignored. Complex modelling of environmental change through Ecosystem Services remotely consuming web services is already happening but the lack of published reference datasets from the historic environment compromises consideration of the resource in decision making processes.Development of SDIs for heritage can bring wider benefits for the profession. Too often fieldwork extents and results are confined to paper publications or reside in project archives. Consequentially we lack a spatial record of fieldwork activities. Although cultural heritage data often has a strong spatial component, the full potential of the geographies created through discovery, recording and analysis is far from being realised. Harmonisation and publication of spatial data to consistent standards through an SDI is an essential pre-requisite for mainstreaming the use of heritage data in the 21st century to get cultural heritage to work for Europe.

The rapid development of information technology has enabled the creation of entirely new presentation frameworks and this article will attempt to explore the subject of on-site presentation of archaeological sites. The most frequently used environment currently has been in the form of a variety of virtual museums that are accessible on the Internet; in essence these keep their visitors stuck in front of a PC monitor. One option that allows leaving the monitor and stepping directly out-of-doors into a virtual open-air museum is by means of applications for mobile phones. Terms such as 'virtual' or 'augmented reality' no longer represent a million light-years away science-fiction concepts, but rather a new tool for public archaeology and for the preservation of the archaeological heritage. This article presents several projects that have been implemented by the Archaeological Institute in Prague, who, by using mobile applications, built virtual open-air museums directly in the locations of archaeological excavations.

A call to action for Europe's archaeology was set out in the Amersfoort Agenda (Schut et al. 2015). It identifies digital technologies and the expanding phenomenon of online and social media as fundamental aspects of the future of archaeological endeavour through its three key agenda items:Use emerging digital technologies to share, connect and provide access to archaeological information; this will require improved collaboration and the development of (and participation in) European networksEncourage cooperation with other disciplines and share data in order to create a shared benefitAim for the greatest possible access to digital archaeological resources for various user groups and exploit digital databases to their full potential, including uses for the greater public.The 17th EAC Symposium (Europae Archaeologiae Consilium) in Brighton was convened under a concept note that recognised that 'Digital technologies are developing at an unprecedented speed. As they do, they are opening up many new possibilities for the conduct and presentation of archaeological research and investigation. The digital realm is one which knows few borders and so the sharing of understanding about these new methods, techniques and possibilities across Europe is extremely valuable'.

This short article illustrates the growth in the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) GIS tools in European archaeology. It draws mainly on the experience gained using the programs gvSIG CE and Survey2GIS. It demonstrates the advantages of open source software for archaeological research and fieldwork, while not ignoring the pitfalls and hazards to be avoided in the FOSS world.

During the last decade in Hungary, preliminary operations for large-scale archaeological excavations have became more and more important: the stakeholders have realised that it is cost-effective to spend more on the assessment phase rather than incurring higher expenditure because of problems related to an ill-planned project. Thorough knowledge of the size and characteristics of archaeological sites can largely contribute to the protection of the cultural heritage, as well as saving time and money.From 2011 Preliminary Archaeological Evaluations have been a mandatory part of the permission process of large-scale constructions (that is to say, a total minimum cost of c.1,600,000 EUR). These evaluations consist of desktop studies (such as analyses of historical documents and maps), as well as field investigations with a budget of 0.35% of the total construction cost. The goal is to make precise archaeological project plans, and to assess the optimal mitigation process.The Forster Centre – and its predecessor – has been responsible for the coordination and execution of preventive archaeological evaluations since 2013. During that time we have established and tested a GIS-based method which has been effective in large-scale investments and which – due to financial constraints – relies greatly on non-invasive methods as tools to help our investigation strategies.Our current strategy relies on three interdependent tasks: GIS-based field surveys, large-scale magnetometer surveys and targeted trial excavations. The scale of our tasks is challenging and demanding at the same time: the investigation of large areas with various methods gives us substantial and reliable datasets on the archaeological landscape. Collecting and comparing these GIS-based datasets on a nationwide scale gives us an opportunity to determine the most effective methods to identify and protect the archaeological heritage. One of the most promising opportunities is to create a comparative database, where the outcomes of geophysical surveys and excavations from hundreds of hectares are available across the country. Using the results, we can set up a comprehensive archaeological geophysics database that would facilitate making our magnetic prospections more accurate and our methods more targeted.

Research e-infrastructures, digital archives and data services have become important pillars of scientific enterprise that in recent decades has become ever more collaborative, distributed and data-intensive. The archaeological research community has been an early adopter of digital tools for data acquisition, organisation, analysis and presentation of research results of individual projects. However, the provision of e-infrastructure and services for data sharing, discovery, access and re-use has lagged behind. This situation is being addressed by ARIADNE: the Advanced Research Infrastructure for Archaeological Dataset Networking in Europe. This EU-funded network has developed an e-infrastructure that enables data providers to register and provide access to their resources (datasets, collections) through the ARIADNE data portal, facilitating discovery, access and other services across the integrated resources. This article describes the current landscape of data repositories and services for archaeologists in Europe, and the issues that make interoperability between them difficult to realise. The results of the ARIADNE surveys on users' expectations and requirements are also presented. The main section of the article describes the architecture of the e-infrastructure, core services (data registration, discovery and access) and various other extant or experimental services. The on-going evaluation of the data integration and services is also discussed. Finally, the article summarises lessons learned, and outlines the prospects for the wider engagement of the archaeological research community in sharing data through ARIADNE.