Integrating Data on Early Medieval Graves: Mapping the THANADOS database to the ARIADNE infrastructure with the Mortuary Data Application Profile

Abstract

This article discusses the creation of an Application Profile (AP) for mortuary data and how it was used to integrate the THANADOS anthropological and archaeological database of sepultures in the ARIADNEplus infrastructure. Ontologies increase data interoperability and their potential for being reused. The CIDOC CRM is a formal ontology designed to facilitate the integration, mediation, and interchange of heterogeneous cultural heritage information. APs provide exemplary mappings that other researchers can use as an orientation. For creating and testing the ARIADNE mortuary data AP, data from early medieval cemeteries provided an ideal case study because of the high degree of similarity between sites. The mapping of early medieval cemetery data has shown that mapping to an ontology contributes to data interoperability in several ways. Firstly, it may reveal inconsistencies in the native dataset and improve data organisation for future projects. Secondly, it enables the querying of information concerning graves and cemeteries from different sources across the ARIADNE infrastructure. Finally, this article provides an example of how archaeological data can be aggregated across multiple providers.