A. SIMON / G. FARIN, / C. LÜBKE / G. INDRUSZEWSKI / J. ROWE
(USA / Germany)
The second progress report
The ceramic technologies digital library is a joint creation of the Historisches Institut at EMAU Greifswald University, Germany, in partnership with the Archeological Research Institute (ARI) from Tempe, Arizona, the Partnership for Research in Spatial Modeling (PRISM) at Arizona State University (ASU), and the Roskilde University Centre, from Roskilde, Denmark. Started in the late summer of 2006, the work concentrated on the erection of basic logistical premises necessary for the electronic archiving of 3D digital data of early medieval ceramics, dated between AD 600 to around 1400. After setting out the research design at ARI, Tempe, Arizona, the project moved further with the installation of a Linux-based server at the Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Greifswald, and the setting-up of a mobile collection unit comprised of a 3D Konica-Minolta Scanner, a Plustek flat-bed scanner, and a Panasonic digital SLR camera. The data acquisition is specifically aimed at the creation of a digital library, which will become a virtual repository center open to both the interested specialists and the general public, through the world wide web. The overall goal of the proposed digital library is the development of an web-based, classificatory database of ceramic collections mainly from the Germania-Slavica research area (Central European area including regions from Germany, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic) that will facilitate access to the visual and quantified study of ceramic technologies and their relationship to cultural traditions, ethnic identities, and the social, economic, and political interactions among multi-ethnic communities. The extensive spatial and temporal database of various existing ceramic collections is gathered into a long-term digital archive, using standard archaeological and geometric concepts and terminology applied systematically in the database development. The resulting database and archive of ceramic collections from Central Europe will have a sustained web address (www.ctdlib.eu and www.ctdlib.org), where users can gain virtual access to otherwise restricted, endangered, or not publicly available material that will be accurately replicated through the use of 3D scanning technology.
Keywords: Germania Slavica, ceramics, 3 D data, online database, digital archive