Linking Ontological Classes and Archaeological Forms

Archaeological studies are a trans-disciplinary endeavor, where a number of different scientists collaborate to get a reasonable account of material artefacts, through the various phases of recovery, analysis, and, recently, also exhibition. A large amount of digital data support the whole process, and there is a high value of keeping the coherence of the information and knowledge contributed by each dis- cipline. The paper introduces a modular computational ontology, which is in use in a comprehensive archaeological project, Beyond Archaeology. The ontology provides the information structure to all the phases of the project, from the excavation phase, to the archaeometric analyses, up to the design and the implementation of the exhibition. The computational ontology is compliant with CIDOC-CRM reference model and introduces a number of novel properties and classes to link the description of the archaeological world with the forms traditionally used by the archaeolo- gists to record the excavation and data about findings on the field and in the lab. The forms are implemented through a CMS structured site, for the creation of a data base, that is also filled with multimedia items that are to be employed in interpretation and exhibition, respectively.