Introduction

 The scope of the Scientific Data SIG is to:

  • Define what should be considered as Scientific Data and Metadata in the framework of the ARIADNE project.
  • Report on the availability and usage of related Scientific Datasets, tools and services among the partners of ARIADNE and in the archaeological community in general.
  • Identify the major categories/types of Scientific Data of interest in the archaeological research. Select the categories/types that the group will focus its work on.
  • Define the user requirements of archaeological researchers for the integration of scientific datasets in their research.
  • Explore the existence and current level of scientific data and systems integration for the archaeological research and identify requirements for future development. Discuss the required integration of the metadata content within the ARIADNE infrastructure.
  • Ascertain what standards (if any) are currently in place to foster interoperability and propose possible improvements or discuss the development of new standards where necessary. Make a survey of existing relevant infrastructure projects and incorporate their results, adapting them if necessary to the scope of the ARIADNE project. Discuss special demands for certain datasets with significant interest and address them (if necessary) in more detail.
  • Describe/suggest tools and services that are needed or will enable the efficient usage of scientific datasets for the support of the archaeological research.
  • Establish guidelines for best practices and training requirements for current and future researchers for the recording, documentation and utilization of scientific datasets in archaeology in general and more specifically within the context of the ARIADNE project.
  •  Identify future requirements, problems and potential of archaeological scientific datasets over the next 5 and 10 years.

Contacts

Chair: Nestor Tsirliganis. Email.
Co-chair: Jacqueline Cahill Wilson. Email.

News

Datasets in Archaeological Research 
Download the Scientific Data SIG report on standardization of datasets and metadata. N. Kazakis, N. Tsirliganis et al. January 2017.

Guide on Thermoluminescence Dating
Nikolaos A. Kazakis and Nestor C. Tsirliganis of ATHENA-CETI (Xanthi, Greece) have produced a guide on Thermoluminescence Dating (see http://guides.archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/g2gp/TL_Toc) that is available in the Guide to Good Practice series published by Archaeology Data Service and Digital Antiquity. (December 2016).

Paper on scientific datasets now available as open access
The paper Scientific Datasets in Archaeological Research by Nikolaos Kazakis and Nestor Tsirliganis has been published in the open access CAA 2015 conference proceedings (Oxford: Archaeopress 2016).

Presentation on scientific datasets in archaeological research at CAA 2015
At the 43rd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA 2015 Siena) SIG members presented a paper on scientific datasets. The paper focuses on current practices in pottery provenance studies and requirements for further standardisation, sharing and integration of high-quality data.

SIG Work Programme: The Programme has been published following extensive consultation between the SIG members and feedback from the FORTH. Download the Work Programme.

Modeling scientific data workshop: SIG members participated in the workshop organised by FORTH in Plakias on Crete on July 21-24, 2014, to lean about how to model their methods and results to the CIDOC-CRM and its recent extensions.

SIG Kick-off Meeting: The Meeting was held through Skype on 27th January 2014. The objective was to define the scope of the SIG and an initial work plan. Download the Minutes of this meeting.