New AIR for the Archaeological Process? The Use of 3D Web Semantic for Publishing Archaeological Reports

Abstract

The management of archaeological excavation data has been the subject of scientific debate in the last decades: critical elements have been identified, such as maintaining analytical data and the derived knowledge entangled, and other relevant aspects, like data curation, accessibility, and long-term preservation, have emerged. This study describes, illustrates, and evaluates the use of the Archaeological Interactive Report (AIR), a cutting-edge information system designed to manage excavation data that is oriented toward the 3D web semantics. AIR is a web platform for recording archaeological investigations live, an online archive that incorporates the complete dataset of the investigations, and a multimedia visualization system providing a 3D environment for data analysis and assemblages, testing interpretation hypotheses, and publishing dynamic editorialization outputs. AIR is applied and evaluated within the case study of Västra Vång (southeastern Sweden), demonstrating that it is possible to use a flexible ontological data model tailored to the archaeologists’ needs.