Open Science | Research Group
The interdisciplinary research group, bringing together archaeologists, philologists, mathematicians, and computer scientists, aims to apply information management and processing technologies to enhance access to data collections in digital environments and under an open‑access model. Research activities focus on the creation, curation, and analysis of electronic resources for archaeology and the sciences of antiquity, stored in open‑access repositories and made available online in accordance with the FAIR principles.
The reference background is grounded in the pioneering experience of the journal Archeologia e Calcolatori, which since 2005 has adhered to the Open Archives Initiative. Alongside its role as an international observatory on developments in archaeological computing, the journal has pursued a direct experimental commitment to the online dissemination of scholarly content.
Archeologia e Calcolatori
The journal’s repository, compliant with the OAI‑PMH protocol, contains more than 1,400 textual resources, as well as metadata and descriptions for over 7,000 images and 40 3D models published on the website and in the Interactive Atlas of Digital Images (IADI). In addition to archiving within institutional repositories (e.g. the CNR SOLAR database), the journal currently contributes to digital content aggregation infrastructures such as CulturaItalia, Europeana and OpenAIRE.
Open Science, Interoperability, and Innovation in Digital Cultural Heritage
Building on its expertise in Open Publishing and Open Science, the group has been involved in numerous projects of national relevance. Work carried out within PNRR 2022–2026 projects such as H2IOSC (Humanities and Cultural Heritage Italian Open Science Cloud) and CHANGES (Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Sustainable Society) has led to in‑depth exploration of key topics including the FAIR principles, Linked Open Data, metadata for interoperability, and semantic modeling. This work has resulted in the development of several platforms for the collection, organization, and sharing of data and best practices within the Digital Cultural Heritage domain:
- BiDiAr (Bibliography of Digital Archaeology;
- DHeLO (Digital Heritage Landscaping Platform;
- H-SeTIS (Heritage – Semantic Tools and Interoperability Survey);
- Open Digital Archaeology Hub;
- Open Digital Epigraphy Hub;
- H/Radiosa (Recommended Approaches for the Development of Interoperable Open Semantic Artefacts in the Heritage Domain);
- REMEDIA (Registry for Epigraphic Metadata. Encoding, Description, Integration and Annotation).
The group has also been involved in the PRIN 2022 funding scheme through the project In.Res.Agri, aimed at investigating the resilience of Roman agrarian landscapes through an integrated approach at the intersection of archaeology, topography, epigraphy, and archival studies. The project applies Machine Learning techniques and includes the creation of an open‑access digital archive.
Thanks to its long‑standing commitment to the dissemination of scientific culture and to the promotion of diamond open access, the research group has contributed to the ISPC Open Portal, a platform designed to collect and showcase the scientific output of the Institute of Heritage Science.
Archeologia e Calcolatori in a nutshell
Staff Open Science
Members of the Open Science Group
Paola Moscati, Emerita Researcher, CNR ISPC
How to contact us
Research Group Coordinator: Alessandra Caravale
opendatagroup@ispc.cnr.it
Projects and Research activities
- Archeologia e Calcolatori →
- Virtual Museum of Archaeological Computing →
- DASI-Digital Archive for the Study of pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions →
- Bronzi del Museo Faina →
- La villa romana di Cottanello. I materiali, Le terrecotte architettoniche →
- Wall-facing Automatic images identification Laboratory →
- H2IOSC (Humanities and Cultural Heritage Italian Open Science Cloud) →
- CHANGES (Cultural heritage active innovation for next-gen sustainable society – Extended partnership) →
- In.Res.Agri (Investigating Resilient Roman Agricultural Landscapes in Southern Italy) →
For further information on ISPC research activities click the button.
Main collaborations
In addition to the institutions represented on the International Scientific Committee of Archeologia e Calcolatori, the following should be noted:
- Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
- CNR-Ufficio ICT
- CNRS-UMR 8167 Orient et Méditerranée
- CNRS-UMR 7041 Archéologie et Sciences de l’Antiquité
- Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico (ICCU)
- Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Mondes, Paris-Nanterre
- Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo (MIC)
- Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca (MUR)
- Pelagios Network
- Union International des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques (UISPP)
- Università di Napoli Federico II
Main publications
A. Caravale (ed.), Una storia per immagini. L’archeologia digitale attraverso IADI, l’Interactive Atlas of Digital Images, Firenze, Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio, 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19282/FA.8.2026
A. Caravale, P. Moscati, I. Rossi (eds.), The H2IOSC Project and its impact on digital antiquity within the E-RIHS infrastructure, Firenze, Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio, 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19282/h2iosc.2026
F. Djindjian, P. Moscati, Analyse des données and archaeology fifty years later: from data analysis to data science, Firenze, Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19282/FA.7.2025
A. Caravale, Le banche dati archeologiche. Articolazione e formalizzazione delle conoscenze, Firenze, Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19282/FA.6.2022
A. Caravale, P. Moscati, La bibliografia di informatica archeologica nella cultura digitale degli anni Novanta, Firenze, Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19282/FA.4.2021
I. Rossi, N. Paraciani, IT applications to archaeology and the OA diamond journals’ challenge. Enhancing access and reuse of textual and visual resources, «Archeologia e Calcolatori», 32.1, 2021, 325–347.
A. Caravale, A. Piergrossi, I. Rossi, Open Data, Open Knowledge, Open Science: The New OpenLab of the Institute for Heritage Science (CNR), in J. Bogdani, R. Montalbano, P. Rosati (eds.), Archeo.Foss 2020. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference (Rome 2020), Oxford, Archaeopress, 2021, 158–167.
F. Buscemi et al., Use and reuse of spatial and quantitative data in archaeology: from 3D survey to serious game at Phaistos (Crete), «Archeologia e Calcolatori», 31.1, 2020, 189–212.
A. Caravale, Principi FAIR ed editoria elettronica. L’archeologia open di “Archeologia e Calcolatori”, in F.R. Cerami, M.L. Scaduto, A. De Tommasi (eds.), I bacini culturali e la progettazione sociale orientata all’heritage-making, Firenze, Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio, 2020, 209–220.
P. Moscati (ed.), Trent’anni di “Archeologia e Calcolatori”. Tra memoria e progettualità, «Archeologia e Calcolatori», 30, 2019, 13–138.
P. Moscati, T. Orlandi (eds.), Il Museo virtuale dell’informatica archeologica. Una collaborazione tra l’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei e il Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Atti della Segnatura (Roma 2017), «Rendiconti della Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei», 30, 2019, 39–156.
A. De Santis, I. Rossi, Crossing Experiences in Digital Epigraphy: From Practice to Discipline, Warsaw–Berlin, De Gruyter, 2018.
P. Moscati, Le rôle de l’Open Access dans la diffusion des résultats de la recherche scientifique: le cas de “Archeologia e Calcolatori”, «UISPP Journal», 1(1), 2018, 27–41.
M. Arizza, V. Boi, A. Caravale, A. Palombini, A. Piergrossi (eds.), I dati archeologici. Accessibilità, proprietà, disseminazione (Roma, CNR, 23 maggio 2017), «Archeologia e Calcolatori», 29, 2018, 9–116.
A. Caravale, A. Piergrossi, Digital resources for archaeology. The contribution of the on-line projects by ISMA-Cnr, in S. Campana et al. (eds.), CAA 2015. Keep the Revolution Going (Siena 2015), Oxford, Archaeopress, 2016, 1019–1026.
A. Caravale, A. Piergrossi, Archaeological open access journals. The case of “Archeologia e Calcolatori”, in F. Giligny et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA 2014), Oxford, Archaeopress, 2015, 257–264.
A. Caravale, A. Piergrossi, Archeologia in rete. Le riviste open access: risorse e prospettive, «Archeologia e Calcolatori», 23, 2012, 187–207.
P. Moscati (ed.), La nascita dell’informatica archeologica. Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Roma, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2008), «Archeologia e Calcolatori», 20, 2009, 11–222.
