Archaeological Excavation Semantic Modelling Workgroup
Semantic Modelling Workshop Series
1st Workshop – Controlled Representation of Linked Archaeological Datasets: A Semantic Reference Data Model (SRDM) Approach
Date:
20 February 2024, 14:00 CET
Presenters:
George Bruseker (Takin.solutions),
Denitsa Nenova (Takin.solutions)
Call for participation
Abstract
This workshop presents a controlled approach to the semantic representation of archaeological datasets. It highlights the key steps in a semantic reference data model centred approach. In particular, it shows the method adopted at Takin.solutions to record both the semantic data project itself and its components and the practical steps taken to use semantic data patterns in a well-known model to create and use declarative mappings in order to generate consistent, reusable and well documented semantic archaeological data. The workshop demonstrates the SemCMD Arches application for semantic data projects, the zellij software for data pattern representation and the use of the tool 3M/X3ML following these patterns to do actual mappings and transformations.
Workshop recordings
Link to the CIDOC Museum Documentation Channel on Youtube: https://youtu.be/RnGdy-pATwk?si=30KrbuhxMoZhVjRi
2nd Workshop – RDF Creation Pipeline; A Workflow to transform Archaeological Data Sets from Tabular Data to RDF using RDFstar and Named Graphs
Date:
24 April 2024, 13:00 CET
Presenters:
Milena Peralta Friedburg (Universität Innsbruck),
Gerald Hiebel (Universität Innsbruck)
Call for participation
Abstract
This workshop presents an approach to create RDF data from tabular data. The main goal of this method is to integrate different sources in one Knowledge Graph by providing a generic data input frame. The example of a sample of archaeological data that has been entered in a spreadsheet (but could have been extracted from a database as well) is taken through the 4 steps required to create RDF:
• Create data with unique identifiers and prefixes
• Load data in a postgres database
• Map the data using OntotextRefine
• Load the data in a GraphDB (ontotext) repository using SPARQL to create RDF with the option of automated creation of RDFstar and named graph constructs.
In this workshop an archaeological example is shown in detail and then other examples from Digital Humanities research are used to illustrate the generic approach.
Workshop recordings
Link to the CIDOC Museum Documentation Channel on Youtube: https://youtu.be/OGAC9nXWKHI?si=F_DcmLSjpOwlEtuB
3rd Workshop –OpenArchaeo: a digital ecosystem to bring archaeological datasets to semantic Web
Date:
5 November 2024, 13:00 CET
Presenters:
Florian Hivert (Université de Tours),
Olivier Marlet (Université de Tours)
Call for participation
Abstract
The French Huma-Num consortium MASAplus has set up an infrastructure to bring heterogeneous archaeological datasets to the semantic web using the CIDOC ontology. The process involves mapping, using tools adapted to the dataset, to generate triples, then checking their consistency, before publishing them on the OpenArchaeo triple-store. In addition to this rigorous procedure, OpenArchaeo above all offers the possibility of querying these datasets with a user-friendly interface (Sparnatural) that enables intuitive querying of the triple-store using the archaeologists' vocabulary and without any familiarity with the Sparql language.
Workshop recordings
Link to the CIDOC Museum Documentation Channel on Youtube: https://youtu.be/8GW5sirwHJs?si=07kwc9KxeDAhoLr_
4th Workshop –Mapping excavation data to CIDOC CRM using the X3ML toolkit
Date:
30 September 2025, 13:00 CET
Presenters:
Maria Theodoridou (ICS-FORTH),
Vanelis Kritsotakis (ICS-FORTH),
Yannis Marketakis (ICS-FORTH)
Call for participation
Abstract
The workshop will present the X3ML toolkit, a set of small, open source, microservices designed with open interfaces, easily customized and adapted to complex environments. The X3ML Toolkit consists of a set of software components that assist the data provisioning process for information integration. Key components of the toolkit are the (a) X3ML Mapping Definition Language, (b) the 3M Mapping Memory Manager, (c) the X3ML Engine and (d) the RDF Visualizer.
We will focus on the use of the toolkit to define schema mappings between simple xml excavation data produced from excel spreadsheets to CIDOC CRM compatible RDF data. The input excavation data are data from relational DBs that have been extracted and transformed to xml. The xml input schema is mapped to CIDOC CRM and the related family models, like CRMarchaeo and the final transformed result is an RDF representation of the data that can be loaded in any Knowledge Graph and be integrated with other CIDOC CRM RDF data.
In particular, we will focus on (a) mapping at the schema level, (b) defining rules to create unique identifiers for the transformed RDF data and (c) visualizing samples of the transformed RDF data.
Workshop recordings
Link to the CIDOC Museum Documentation Channel on Youtube: https://youtu.be/l9W6Okx7q84