This paper presents a case study of data management and processing of archaeological information through a relational database. The unusual typology of the ‘small finds’ that were archaeologically analyzed and the specific history of the excavations at Phaistos and Ayia Triada (Crete, Greece) prompted our consideration of issues regarding data integrity. We sought to address the problem surrounding the relevance of archaeological sources by applying a reliability index to the subjective interpretations of archaeological data, which ultimately led to the implementation of a fuzzy method to determine the degree of uncertainty of attributions associated with function. The resulting database represents a ‘container of memories’ that allows the processing of all the typological and functional attributions from any source, without having to necessarily simplify or dilute the information in order to render it manageable. The concept of ‘probability of belonging’ and multi-assignment of source attributions seem to represent plausible methodological pathways to determining the reliability of archaeological data, thus warranting the research presented herein.

A fuzzy approach to evaluate the attributions reliability in the archaeological sources

Figuera Marianna
2020-01-01

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of data management and processing of archaeological information through a relational database. The unusual typology of the ‘small finds’ that were archaeologically analyzed and the specific history of the excavations at Phaistos and Ayia Triada (Crete, Greece) prompted our consideration of issues regarding data integrity. We sought to address the problem surrounding the relevance of archaeological sources by applying a reliability index to the subjective interpretations of archaeological data, which ultimately led to the implementation of a fuzzy method to determine the degree of uncertainty of attributions associated with function. The resulting database represents a ‘container of memories’ that allows the processing of all the typological and functional attributions from any source, without having to necessarily simplify or dilute the information in order to render it manageable. The concept of ‘probability of belonging’ and multi-assignment of source attributions seem to represent plausible methodological pathways to determining the reliability of archaeological data, thus warranting the research presented herein.
2020
Archaeological sources
Database
Fuzzy analysis
Reliability
Small finds
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11769/488122
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