Grid services for e-archaeology

Archaeological data collection is based on the description of archaeological contexts. An archaeological excavation demolishes the original matrix within which the cultural material is found and special care is taken to record spatial context. Each artifact is described in terms of its physical and spatial properties as well as its relation to the matrix (for example soil composition). As several thousands of artifacts can be unearthed during a field season, there is a need to develop digital resources and collections that focus on the publication and preservation of data and the creation of tools for the analysis of these data. The first section of this paper presents preliminary results and the lessons learnt on the development of a prototype for an Australian archaeological digital collection based on data grid middleware and infrastructure. The second section introduces a versatile 3D reconstruction tool that visualizes the excavated archaeological artifacts with its associated stratigraphy. The data come from two major archaeological projects in Queensland, Australia: the Mill Point Archaeological Project and the Cania Gorge Regional Archaeological Project. These case studies were selected to represent the different challenges in deploying these digital technologies to Australian archaeological applications.