THE MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL NETWORK – A CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The Mediterranean Archaeological Network (MedArchNet http://medarchnet.org ) is a series of linked archaeological information nodes. Each node contains a regional database of archaeological sites, sharing a common database structure in order to facilitate rapid information retrieval and display within and across nodes in the network. On the world scene, archaeology produces major new sources of cultural heritage data and material remains that require innovative methods for study, interpretation and public presentation. To take advantage of the growing body of such data, the MedArchNet cyberinfrastructure provides a workable model for researchers from a wide range of fields dealing with cultural heritage to collaborate, discover and monitor resources. In an era of rapidly expanding population and urban development, a system like MedArchNet can provide mechanisms to monitor archaeological site conditions over time and lessen the impact on cultural heritage resources by careful planning, and can significantly enhance site preservation and development potential in the Mediterranean basin. Furthermore, by uniting archaeological site metadata from many disparate datasets and organizations, the MedArchNet cyberinfrastructure dramatically improves the ability of researchers to ask large-scale, cross-regional questions of the archaeological data, providing fresh new insights into one of the most culturally meaningful areas on Earth.