Diversity and Reuse of Digital Resources for Ancient Mediterranean Material Culture

I open with the simple observation that large amounts of information about the material culture of the ancient Mediterranean world are becoming available online. While grounded in specific examples, this chapter is interested in the sources of that information and how diverse entities contribute to, link to, copy or otherwise reuse resources that are discoverable on the public Internet. The main goal is to document that museums, private individuals, publicly funded repositories, commercial enterprises and academic publishers are contributors to this ongoing process. Again, that may seem a well-known fact. Nonetheless, the role of commercial and private initiative in the development of the ‘ancient world web’ is not always acknowledged. For example, the site Archnet sponsored by Arizona State University has long collected links to archaeological websites, including those relevant to the ancient Mediterranean.2 Its editorial policy states that ‘In keeping with our mission goals, we have decided not to link commercial sites (with the exception of publishing companies).’ ‘Artefact dealers’ are explicitly included in the definition of commercial sites. Similarly, the Council on Library and Information Resources sponsored a 2003 survey of 33 digital cultural heritage initiatives that included no commercial businesses.3 More recently, a 2006 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) report addressed its call to ‘develop public and institutional policies that foster openness and access’ to ‘university presidents, boards of trustees, provosts, and counsels; funding agencies; libraries; scholarly societies;