ArchaeoKM: Managing Archaeological data through Archaeological Knowledge

Nowadays, the use of ontologies in the field of the archaeology is a new direction of research that is not fully tested. Some results are very encouraging and challenge the vision of archaeological sites which cannot be modeled semantically. Most of the researches based on ontology technologies in the archaeology domain are based on the research of finding on a common ground for the interoperability and the integration of data. Papers like (LANG 2009), (KOLLIAS 2008) cover these research. The project ArchaeoKM is a shift from such researches. It focuses on using the knowledge possessed by the archaeologists to model the data of an archaeological project, and to define domain rules in order to enrich the knowledge contained in the modeled data system. This system aims at the definition of a comprehensive archaeological knowledge base system. The initial concept of the application has already been presented in CAA09 (KARMACHARYA, et al. 2009). As it has been discussed, the ArchaeoKM platform is based on Semantic Web technologies and a domain ontology defined by the specialists of the domain in collaboration with specialists of ontologies. Hence, it deals with knowledge generation and knowledge management through the expertise of the archaeologists. These knowledge could be both semantics as well as spatial. In addition, the ArchaeoKM platform is capable of handling both the knowledge as a single solution. This extended abstract paper presents the final concept and the process of developments since.