Archeologia e società dell'informazione

The Author illustrates the main developments of a recent discipline in constant evolution: archaeological computing. This boundary discipline, which found its roots in the 1950s, is now facing exciting challenges in a wider scenario of integration between archaeology and information society. An overview of key methodologies shows alternative scientific routes, which give evidence of the deep influence of Computer Science on traditional archaeological methodologies. If over time computer applications have consolidated and taken up innovative forms - from databases to multimedia systems, from digital cartography to Geographical Information Systems, from computer graphics to image processing and Virtual Reality - future expectations are linked to the development of knowledge management tools and the true philosophy of the web, based on decentralisation and interoperability. In the meanwhile, through instrument miniaturisation and portability, new data acquisition and location techniques affecting archaeological remains gather strength within the framework of an entirely digital reconstruction of the past. The entry is the result of a thirty-year scientific activity within the CNR, which led to the rise of a new research area focused on archaeological computing. This new area of investigation found a stable point of reference in the journal Archeologia e Calcolatori, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in the new format of Open Access Journal, which runs in parallel with the traditional edition.