Archaeological Applications of Fuzzy Databases

This paper deals with problems concerning statistical data (e.g. deriving from archaeometry) in an archaeological database, when an unaware use may lead to erroneous conclusions. A new model is proposed for these cases, using fuzzy logic to assign a reliability coefficient to imprecise attributes. Considering a case study, we generalize the assignment of age, gender and chronology to burials. The procedures are general and can be fruitfully used also in other investigations. To manage these fuzzy attributes, we personalized a free Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and created a WWW interface to ease data consultation and allow remote access. 1. Quantitative applications and archaeological theory In a recent paper (Barceló 2000), J. Barceló wisely pointed out that the applications of computers to archaeology have arrived at an elevate level of complexity, often characterized by sophisticated and expensive techniques, but such resources are still not fully exploited for their investigation potential, notwithstanding the goals achieved especially in spatial technologies and virtual reality applications. For the Spanish scholar, the low use of these advanced computer technologies in archaeological research derives from the fact that we are not able to ask questions complex enough for so complex instruments and therefore archaeological results still lack. Pursuing the application in archaeology of the most recent hardware solutions and of the most promising software developments, produced by research or by the market, often generates technical systems, which are efficient and reliable but are not accompanied by an adequate level of theoretical and methodological reflection. Behind a shiny technological apparatus it is often hidden a preoccupying trivialisation, caused by the absence of reflection on the impact of the use of advanced technology on the process of historical knowledge. However, critical elements pervade the archaeological use of virtual reality and emerge also towards inter-site GIS systems, oriented only to environmental variables and therefore deterministically biased. Stating the importance of the connection between the improvement of computer applications and archaeological research, Harris and Lock pointed out that a GIS system is 1 University of Florence, Florence, Italy – e-mail: niccolucci@unifi.it 2 CISA – Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples, Italy – e-mail: dandrea@iuo.it 3 Unirel srl – Sesto Fiorentino, Italy – e-mail: marco@unirel.it