SH.AR.P.P. (SHared ARchaeological Platform for Prehistory): Building an Informative System for Italian Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sites

Abstract

Italy’s prehistoric and protohistoric heritage is subjected to more threats than any other for reasons that go beyond its antiquity: if it is true that the record is often less imposing in its traces, this cannot justify the widespread general ignorance surrounding it. Such ignorance is mirrored and amplified by the lack of systematic recording of all kinds of evidence regarding this timeframe. Even though there is more than one platform available for such recording, its use is rarely considered accessible, and their features appear to be more oriented towards cataloguing rather than research or trying to capture the attention of a non-specialized audience. In this article, we pinpoint what seems to be missing and propose a model that can deal with the challenge.

SH.AR.P.P. (SHared ARcheological Platform for Prehistory): New Perspectives for the Project

“…Since our first presentation of the project [4], many things have changed besides the technical side of the matter. We have slowly but steadily enriched and solidified our structure, which has now reached a number of 16 tables for data inserts and 45 thesauri for the standardization of entries, respectively called "content-type" and "taxonomies" in Drupal's logic.…”

“…(SHared ARcheological Platform for Prehistory) was conceived by the Digilab Research Centre of Sapienza University of Rome with the ambition of proposing a multi-faceted tool able to bridge the gap between the national descriptors and the public concerning prehistory. From the very beginning, it was intended to have the form of an online GIS platform linked to a versatile database exploring the chronological and cultural definition of the evidence, the relationship between man and his environment, and the studies concerning the sites with their accompanying bibliographies [4]. Beyond that, in order to enhance public visibility and dissemination, SH.AR.P.P.…”