This publication is out of print.

...

W. Sommerfeld (Universität Marburg, Germany) The looting of the Iraq Museum in April 2003 and the ongoing large-scale robbery in many archaeological sites has caused an irretrievable destruction of the cultural heritage. The review of the events and facts is based on personal experience in Iraq before, during and after the last war. The efforts of preservation are described as well. keywords: looting, Iraq Museum, illegal...

O. M. Wilbertz (Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Hannover, Deutschland) In the development of archaeological research, a system of concepts has been growing, which enables archaeologists to carry out their work in a conventional way. As a consequence of the increasing use of electronic media for documentation and presentation of results, archaeologists – whatever their mother language and whatever the legal framework, under which they work – are confronted with the necessity to question the concepts which they have become accustomed to in the past. To date each individual and each group of scientists have worked for themselves and then presented the results. Subsequently the archaeologists started to employ data bases to run vast quantities of information and began to introduce standards. Results have gradually been interchanged per internet. In order to be able to interchange the contents of different data bases and to carry out further operations like mapping, statistics etc. – preferably per internet – further clarification of concepts is necessary. In this context, it is not the primary aim to develop or change lists of applicable terms. Even more important is the definition of independent objects and attributes, correlation of information and the contents of the terms, e.g. what is a site? A place where ancient people previously lived and/or worked? A place where modern man has done his research? Or a place where both are applicable? Which attributes must a site have to be a site? It is assumed that mapping sites is only possible, if these questions have been answered – intentionally or unintentionally. If all archaeologists deal intentionally with these questions in the same way, only then can the results be seriously compared and further applied. The complex of questions presented herein should only be understood as an example. On the whole, there are a number of such semantic questions to be answered. The poster should serve as an invitation to participate in defining the objects and attributes and the clarification of the relationships between the objects. The aim at the end could be something like an Archaeological Markup...

J.C. Thomas / G. Subsol / H. de Lumley / V. Poix / B. Mafart / J.P. Jessel / P. Torguet (Foveaproject, France) Prehistory is a science at the crossroad of many disciplines and requires to compile data from three main sources: the geology of the site, the environment of the fossils and the fossils. Then, researchers must handle an enormus quantity of informations. In particular, during the excavation on the prehistoric site of Tautavel (Cave of Arago, Tautavel, France, 450 000 years BC), archaeologists have found more than 500 000 objects. The processing of these data is till now performed in 2 dimensions only and their compilation remains difficult. There is then a large requirement of 3D digital modeling. The purpose of our study was to conceive a virtual environment of excavation, allowing a three-dimensional interaction with the archaeological data. The 3D environment is composed of the digital copy of the cave in which the objects of the archaeological database are integrated using the mapping method of Benedikt space. We have developped tools to make easy the handling of data, the visualisation and the navigation in the virtual environment : tools of filtering (focus+context), management of the level of details for the objects,… The 3D visualisation and interaction with data should support the work of archaeologists. The prospects are multiple as to allow a virtual excavation considering the time variable, to think about an innovative interface mode using the haptic feedback and to develop a distributed platform of virtual reality. This study was supported by the Fovea project, French National Center of Scientific Research, Society of the...

E.A. Ramirez / R. Taylor (Bergen University Museum, Norway) This work has demonstrated the ability of confocal imaging for volume estimate of the oil inclusion. Three-dimensional images are compiled and computerised in order to visualise the inclusion volume in a museum glass object. Computer treatment consist of calculating the whole volume of the inclusion after threshold of 2-D images of the oil which have a grey scale corresponding to the intensity variation of the emitted fluorescence, and then measuring the volume of the semi spherical gas bubble. Deformations of the vapour bubble 3-D image can be explained by diffraction of the laser beam due to differences of diffraction indices between oil and gas, and by the refraction light on the wall of the gas, these will have to be taken in consideration in any further measurements by confocal microscopy. Future studies on organic materials in our collection will be investigated in the...