2Fortress of Maiolo. Authors own photograph.

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T he Minerva Cultural Association was founded in 2010 by a group of students, Dr. Tommaso Saccone (President), Dr. Roberta Vico (Vice

President) and Dr. Cristiana Margherita (Treasurer), of the Faculty of Conservation of Cultural Heritage of Ravenna - Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, and aims to promote an actual culture of respect for nature, art, history and traditions of Italy and to protect our heritage that is not only a fundamental part of our roots and identity, but also one of the largest resource of our State (1).

Our association began by carrying out dif-ferent projects of cultural valorization: the Fortress of Maiolo (RN), the Roman Villa of Lido Silvana (TA) and the town of Poggio San Marcello (AN); later on we set up a the-atrical performance entitled “The penulti-mate dinner” at Novafeltria (RN), and we re-cently organized a 3D Laboratory course for Archaeology.

In recent times, however, our interest has firmly focused on the “Cultural Heritage” project (2). On the 20th November of 2012, in

fact, a platform which goes under this name was established: a beta version in which it’s possible to develop the many possibilities for the management and spreading of infor-mation, relating to cultural heritage.

The project “Digital Archaeological Heritage” was born from the desire to promote the use of new technologies related to the use of GIS and the Internet, in the management and enhancement of the world’s cultural heritage, making sure that each page of the platform could be shared by users via the major and most common social networks.

What is desired is a free format that can be used by any kind of organization, whether public or private, for the management of data related to the total assets. The same tool can then be used in the various stages that follow one another during the study and promotion of an archaeological excava-tion and its finds.

The idea is based on sharing and promoting archaeological, historical, artistic and cul-tural activities in general, as we believe that the work done by our nation, in promoting

Fortress of Maiolo. Authors own photograph.

MINERVA CULTURAL ASSOCIATION CULTURAL HERITAGE ONLINE

By Dr. Cristiana Margherita and Dr. Tommaso Saccone

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Above: Arc on the beach of Lido Silvana in Pulsano; Below: Tanks for cleaning the fish on the beach of Lido Silvana in Pulsano. Credit: Ivano Morelli.

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Above: The first parish church, in Poggio St. Marcello, dedicated to St. Marcello, now abandoned and desecrated; Below: Mustiola, one of the first medieval church of Poggio St. Marcello, now

collapsed and no longer visible. Authors own photographs.

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cultural heritage and broadcasting scientific data is insufficient or precarious. In fact, the State and the Superintendence, which in Italy has the Constitutional duty to protect and enhance the heritage of the nation, seems too protectionist in the data collection; this approach leads to a very low chance in the search for reliable comparisons and thus to the impossibility to develop and promote cultural heritage.

The platform provides, in this early stage, three key challenges: the archaeological management, the historical-artistic one and the sustainable exploitation of architectural works.

The first test, currently underway, is the documentation acquired by the Minerva Cultural Association during the course of

the project for the “Valuation of Cultural Heritage of Poggio San Marcello (AN)” (3).

Points of Interest relating to the heritage site of Poggio San Marcello, were placed on a satellite map and enriched with infor-mation about every historical building and archaeological evidence, thus sharing texts, but also photo galleries, surveying and all the documentation on ceramic materials found during the cleaning of the Cave of the Crypt of St. Nicolò of Bari and the Cave of the Ex clinic.

At the time, eight points of Interest are in-serted; each one is connected with an article containing: descriptions, graphics pads, photo galleries and multimedia files.

All these web pages will be accessible with

Exercise of the 3D lab in archaeology: Teodorico’s Mausoleum. Authors own photograph.

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a Smart-Phone with QR codes that will be placed outside of the buildings to which they relate.

Thanks to the interest shown by Professor Maurizio Tosi, Professor of the University of Bologna, it was possible to take into account the archaeological excavation of Ra’s al- Hamra (4), in the Sultanate of Oman, and to consider the possibility of developing both the archaeological and the historical-artistic.

The Italian Archaeological Mission has been present in the Sultanate of Oman since 1970 and aims to study the prehistoric cultures of the fishermen who had exploited the coast-al environment of the Arabian Sea. In recent years, thanks to the Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman, researchers are bringing to light the remains of the ancient settlement and cemetery called RH-5 located in Ra’s al-Hamra (Muscat), dating from the end of the fifth to the end of the fourth millennium BCE.

The district of Qurum Muscat is one of the

most exclusive areas of the Sultanate’s capi-tal, not only from a tourism - residential point of view, but also from an environmen-tal and archaeological interest.

The artefacts found during excavation or preserved in museums and research institutions will be indexed in special databases containing information relating to the type of material: size, weight, photo-graphs, design and accessibility. In addition information about the studies performed on each material, any restoration work and the name of the people engaged in these opera-tions will be reported in the database.

After completing the excavation and the analysis of the documentation, through the platform it will be possible to create digital publications at low cost.

From this time on the income from these publications can be divided into four parts, equally distributed: one fourth to the authors, one fourth to the accredited institution that developed the publication,

Points of Interest of Poggio St. Marcello. Credit: Google Earth.

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The Cave of the Crypt of St. Nicolò of Bari in Poggio St. Marcello. Authors own photograph.

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one fourth to support the platform itself and the last fourth will be invested to create new useful work for the same institution.

In this way publishing will be affordable and worthwhile again and it may be possible to overcome the contemporary state of pub-lishers’ speculation and monopoly.

The structure of the computing platform has been designed with CSM through which the various accredited institutions will be able to add and edit information about new works of cultural heritage management or cultural related events.

We made a different database for each type of information (stratigraphic units, individu-als, material, fauna, museum collections) as

each data that was analyzed had different characteristics.

The target to which the project addresses to is primarily made up of experts in the field of cultural heritage, who, through the use of the platform “Cultural Heritage” will increase the quality and possibilities of research: finding new and more effective option in the management of documentation and, using digital publications, will produce a constant return of image.

Secondly, the platform is intended for all those visiting a city, willing to have the opportunity to learn in detail what they are seeing: the platform will allow them to access a range of digital contents such as Virtual Tours, audio guides and catalogs in

The Cave of the Crypt of St. Nicolò of Bari in Poggio St. Marcello. Authors own photograph.

The Cave of the Ex clinic in Poggio St. Marcello . Authors own photograph.

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high definition accessible using a standard smart-phone.

In order to reach the international commu-nity, databases related to the archaeological field, are compiled and displayed in English, while databases regarding historical-artistic material and information as well as the development of architectural works, will be displayed both in English and Italian.

It was possible to introduce, within the plat-form, the personal archives of Professor Maurizio Tosi, composed of all the archaeo-logical and cultural information that he has been collecting in the course of his career.

The archive is essentially composed of three nucleus: the extracts, the documentation of the excavation, the stock of photographs and archaeological papers (5).

The nucleus of the extract was subjected to a first division between originals and copies. The first, the orginals, about 1000, will be soon acquired in a digital format, and organized in a database containing all the in-formation for the search: Author, Title, Year of Publication, Retrieved from and theme, that will be created in the upcoming weeks.

The second group of works has been set following the archaeological record of Ra’s al Hamra (RH5) and the Burnt Palace Shahr-i Sokhta (SIS-BB).

The archaeological record is displayed us-ing Web GIS systems, which will allow us to relate to each other’s topographic data, descriptive ones, those photographers.

Once the data of all the archaeological work, carried out by Professor Maurizio Tosi, will be inserted into the system, the user will be

able to put them in relation to other user’s databases, and through the use of common databases it will be possible to identify similar characteristics between each site rising new possibility of research and investigation.

Also this administration system will be avail-able for any organization that wishes to use it for the management of archaeological information.

The third core is built around the photo-graphic and archaeological papers acquired during the mission study and excavation in the Sultanate of Oman, the Indian subconti-nent and the Arabian Peninsula in general. The aim is to relate each group of photos with the location where they were taken, using google maps as a cartographic base, getting as many points of interest as you have in the recognitions and excavations. The scanning of the photographs were acquired in good quality, 1600 DPI, and then reduced. So a new page for each point of interest is creat-ed and shared, each page enriched not only by photographic material but also by report and any digging or multimedia material that has been collected over time.

Through the use of digital systems it will be able to eliminate the “papery” cost of tra-ditional archiving, a first step to reduce the high costs of traditional archiving.

The platform “Cultural Heritage” has also been designed for the museums, where it’s possible to create catalogs in high defini-tion, entering galleries, presenting descrip-tive work, comparisons, bibliography and any 3D reconstruction.

Thanks to the possibilities offered by 3D modelling and Virtual Tours, museums could expand their showcase consistently: this

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will give visitors the opportunity to access objects and works of art that for whatever reason are not accessible and the museum would get a very important image.

Through the platform “Cultural Heritage” accredited museums will be allowed to sell their catalogs and tickets and also to offer commercial discounts.

With regard to the promotion of the archi-tectural works we have designed a format, accessible to any accredited municipality or local authority which will bring about a real journey through the sights of the city, where every building will be put in relation with a QR code, so that visitors can access with any device enabled and can connect directly to the web page of the platform “Cultural Heritage”.

At this moment in the platform, there is a specific page about the work of the Minerva Cultural Association, in which all the material related to 3D Modelling Laboratory for Archaeology was added (6), while the rest of the material above descripted is, little by little, being acquired.

The development of the platform was not intended for a specific place or institution, but specifically designed for the types of data that, in 2013, characterize the commu-nication of cultural heritage.

This tool is so versatile that it can be used all over the world.

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Notes/References

(1) http://asscultminerva.altervista.org/

(2) http://www.heritageonline.it/

(3) The Project Valuation of Cultural Heritage of Poggio San Marcello (AN) was founded in 2012 by the Cultural Association Minerva, under the scientific direction of Dr. Enrico Ravaioli and sponsored by the town of Poggio San Marcello and the Diocese of Jesi (http://heritageonline.altervista.org/progetti/poggio-san-marcello-an/).

(4) http://heritageonline.altervista.org/it/archivio-tosi/archivio-prof-tosi-fotografie-e-papers-archeologici/oman/lisola-archeologica-di-ras-al-hamra/

(5) http://heritageonline.altervista.org/it/archivio-tosi/

(6) The Laboratory of 3D Modeling for Archaeology is a project started in November 2012. The course is taught by Dr. Massimiliano Montanari and was built under the patronage of the Municipality of Ravenna and the seat Arci the same city (http://heritageonline.altervista.org/progetti/laboratorio-3d/).

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