Project Context:
A major obstacle to Open Science in field archaeology—especially in survey archaeology—is the lack of consistent, semantically documented digital datasets that meet FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. Hundreds of Mediterranean survey projects have produced rich archaeological data, yet inconsistent documentation prevents large‑scale analysis, reuse, and interoperable integration across repositories such as DANS or FASTI Online. The project sought to address this by employing CIDOC CRM–based semantic modelling to map distributed archaeological survey datasets into a scalable, FAIR‑compatible framework.
TAKIN’s Role / Contribution:
In collaboration with academic partners and Data FAIRification experts, Takin.solutions led the semantic data modelling work contributing to WP1: Completion of the CRMsurv ontology extension and full model definition.
Key Activities:
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Worked on defining semantic structures required for field survey documentation using CIDOC CRM and its extensions.
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Refined relationships between the new CRMsurv ontology extension and existing formal models (e.g., CRMarchaeo), ensuring consistency with international modelling standards.
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Supported the vetting process with the CRM Special Interest Group (CRM‑SIG) toward broader community adoption.
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Delivered draft CRMsurv semantic model and contributed to harmonization milestones for semantic documentation.
Outcome:
Takin.solutions’ contributions helped produce a semantically robust extension (CRMsurv) tailored for archaeological survey data, enabling datasets from disparate surveys to be meaningfully integrated and mapped according to FAIR principles. This semantic foundation supports the conversion of legacy survey data into Linked Open Data, promoting large‑scale archaeological research, interoperability across systems, and higher documentation standards in field archaeology.