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The overall objective of ARIADNE is to help in making archaeological data more easily discoverable, accessible and re-useable. The project addresses the fragmentation of archaeological data in Europe and promotes a culture of open sharing and (re-)use of data across institutional, national and disciplinary boundaries of archaeological research. More specifically, ARIADNE implements an e-infrastructure for data interoperability, sharing and integrated access via a data portal. Linked Open Data can greatly contribute to these goals.

There are several issues which currently impede a wider uptake of the Linked Data approach in archaeology and related domains so that a web of semantically interlinked data has not emerged as yet. This study, Towards a Web of Archaeological Linked Open Data,  investigates such issues, discusses requirements for a wider uptake, and gives recommendations on how to meet them. The study results will be useful for many who have taken an interest in Linked Open Data (LOD), would like to have an overview of the current situation in cultural heritage and archaeology, and recommendations on how to advance the availability and interlinking of LOD in this field. Specific actions are recommended to:

  • raise awareness of Linked Data,
  • clarify the benefits and costs of Linked Data,
  • enable non-IT experts use Linked Data tools,
  • promote Knowledge Organization Systems as Linked Open Data,
  • foster reliable Linked Data for interlinking,
  • promote Linked Open Data for research.

Among the various requirements, the study highlights the importance of fostering a community of LOD curators who take care for proper generation, publication and interlinking of archaeological datasets and vocabularies.

This study has been produced in the ARIADNE project as part of Work Package 15, “Linking Archaeological Data” by Guntram Geser (Salzburg Research, Austria). Download the study.