AnnoMAD: A Semantic Framework for the Management and the Integration of Full-text Excavation Data and Geographic Information

Abstract

This paper describes the advances in the development of the AnnoMAD System, a modular framework created by PIN and The Cyprus Institute for the management and the integration of free-text archaeological data and geographic information related to excavations. The system provides a free-text encoding tool able to annotate textual documentation using semantic features and a GIS integrated framework to capture the spatial descriptions and make them available in a geographical context. AnnoMAD is built using Open Source software. It leverages on the flexibility of CIDOC-CRM and RDF to create a layer of semantic metadata to be linked to the original documents, in order to preserve their integrity. Integration of the GML standard geographic language with CIDOC-CRM guarantees data interoperability and demonstrates that CIDOC-CRM can offer a valid schema that may be easily extended to incorporate geographic features and relations. AnnoMAD has been applied to a case-study concerning a Bronze Age excavation in Cyprus, the Hala Sultan Tekke archaeological site.