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Talks and Poster Presentations (without Proceedings-Entry):

J. Zöldföldi, P. Hegedüs, B. Székely:
"Interdisciplinary data base of marble for archaeometric, art historian and restoration use";
Poster: 37th International Symposium on Archaeometry, Siena, Italy, Siena; 2008-05-12 - 2008-05-14.



English abstract:
After the completion of a research project the majority of compiled and collected analogous and digital data from literature research, field surveys, measurements and simulations remain in general unpublished. In principle most of these data would be ready for any scientific purposes on request. In marble provenance studies the public availability of such raw data could prevent sometimes unnecessary repeated work; restorers, researchers working in various fields of humanities, museologists and specialists managing collections are basically interested in the raw data as well to avoid duplicated research. Therefore, the specialists are expected to publish the raw data as well together with the scientific contributions. However, the extensive raw data cannot be integrated into international data bases, since the data formats are not really standardised so far.
The storage must be organised in such a way that it is conceivable for the researchers worldwide. Furthermore the data must be filed in reliable data centres where they are maintained and are put into archives for long time and remain available. Via the availability of the raw data the original research results gain also importance and become valuable.
The aim of this project was to develop an interdisciplinary and easily accessible data base management system with user friendly interfaces for data entry, quality control, storage, continuous dissemination, and exchange. This provides help for data comparison, provenance analyses and reveals missing analytical results. In our system we include already existing analyses and results not only of marble occurrences but of archaeological objects and architectural elements, too. Conceptually we intend to manage the results of analyses of both type of material together to handle the data in the same manner. It enhances the overlaps and the gaps in the analytical results defining the further analyses to be done. On the other hand the integration makes it possible to spare expensive and time consuming measurements, if the data are already available from the material with the same provenance.
The system integrates data on raw material (hereafter referred to as geological samples) and results on archaeological (art historical and/or architectural) objects. The system manages both type of data using the same concept. Common entries are: Sample identification; Methods applied on the sample; Colour and fabric; Mineralogical, chemical and isotope geochemical composition; Textural properties; Engineering physical properties. Furthermore, for geological samples the geological classification (age, facies) is also stored. In case of archaeological samples the data base contains the archaeological description of the objects, its probable provenance (if determined) and conservational and restoration experience.
Further system amendments and extensions are possible without data loss. It is planned to revise the system functionalities, data structure and data content regularly according to the needs of the users.

Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.