Information Integration in a Mining Landscape

Abstract

The integration of information sources is a fundamental step to advance research and knowledge about the ancient mining landscape of Schwaz/Brixlegg in the Tyrol / Austria. The approach is applied for the localization, identification and interpretation of mining structures within the area. We want to show the use of the CIDOC CRM ontology with extensions in combination with a thesaurus to integrate data on a conceptual level. To implement this integration, we applied semantic web technologies to create a knowledge graph in RDF (Resource Description Framework) that currently represents the available information of seven different information sources in a network structure. More sources will be integrated using the same methodology. These are geochemical analysis of artefacts, onomastic research on names related to mining and archaeological information of other mining areas to research the spread of prehistoric mining activities and technologies.

The RDF network can be queried for research, cultural or emergency response questions and the results can be displayed using Geoinformation systems. An exemplary archaeological research question is the location of mining, settlement and burial sites in the Bronze Age, differentiating between ore extraction, ore processing and smelting activities. For emergency forces the names and exact locations of mines are essential in case of an accident within an old mine. Different questions require a subset of the created knowledge graph. The results of queries to retrieve specific information can be visualised using appropriate tools.