ARIADNE, ATRIUM and ARTEMIS are organising Session 61 at the EAA 2026 Conference in Athens and invite papers on the topic of Interlinking the Past: FAIR Metadata for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research.
Efforts to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability (FAIR) of data in archaeology and related domains, such as heritage science, have highlighted the importance of enriching metadata. This work is intrinsically interdisciplinary, bringing together diverse sources, including historical or literary texts and scientific analyses. Connecting these resources using common digital standards, such as shared ontologies and controlled vocabularies, is an important goal that remains difficult to achieve but can provide numerous benefits.
Such enriched metadata can be presented in tailored ways to appeal to multiple audiences, including cultural heritage professionals, researchers and the general public. Examples include (reactive) digital twins constructed on a foundation of richly modelled metadata connecting multiple documentary sources, as well as robust, reproducible research workflows, accompanied by their demonstrators. The former provides exact digital replicas of physical objects, based on a robust foundation of documentation and metadata that can simulate responses to real-world stimuli. The latter enables users to prepare and process complex data (e.g. text, image, 3D, sound, multimedia), thereby increasing the accessibility of, and engagement with, digital tools and methods. Additionally, capacity building can enhance existing skills and expertise, equipping others with the knowledge needed to apply these methods elsewhere. This is all, of course, possible because of our European research infrastructure landscape.
The session organisers ATRIUM, ARTEMIS and ARIADNE, invite colleagues from within and outside our projects to share the best practices they are developing in these areas. We are interested in hearing what has (and has not) worked for your projects in the broad area of metadata enrichment, with a particular focus on how these outcomes have promoted compliance with the FAIR principles, created engaging content for user communities, and empowered others in undertaking similar work.
The session will be drawing from the ATRIUM D5.1 deliverable ‘Interim report on Demonstrators’.
All submissions to be made through the EAA website.
For further information about the Session, please contact info@ariadne-research-infrastructure.eu.