This book is published from a doctoral dissertation completed in the Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche dell'Università degli Studi di Catania. The text describes the construction of a relational database for small finds from the Italian excavations at Phaistos and Hagia Triada. In general, this a clearly written description of what it takes to build a relational database for small finds, whose reluctance to be classified has often tempted excavators to ignore their importance.
F. divides the book into several chapters, each with a specific issue related to the project. The first chapter sets the context of the project, by outlining the relationship between archaeology and computer science, with an emphasis on the evolution of digital archaeology and the construction of her own Gestione Archeologica (GEAR) system. The second chapter focuses on the issue of small finds, which have specific characteristics and are not like ceramics, which are more easily typologised. An important issue dealt with in this chapter is that of ‘legacy data’. Small finds especially suffer from inconsistent referencing in recording and description in notebooks, inventories, museum catalogues etc.
The next three chapters sketch the construction of the database. Chapter 3 begins a description of the phases of constructing the database. An important feature in this chapter is the ‘find’ entity, plus smaller categories, such as location, characteristics and documentation. Chapter 4 further pushes the issue with a focus on the methodologies used in creating the database and how the issue of inconsistency in descriptions and recording can be overcome. Here F. closely diagrams the relationships between different parts of the database. F. also argues for the use of ‘fuzzy logic’ to map out uncertainties in descriptions of small finds, due to inconsistent forms of documentation. An important issue addressed is the ‘stand-alone’ interface, which is consistent with the project and the relationship of this interface to the web interface, which provides an important portal for queries of the data. While the previous chapters discuss the construction of the database and its issues, the last is an example of the database in use. Here F. demonstrates some of the basic links between the various bits of data, highlighted by the database, and provides a clearer picture of function, location, chronology etc. At the end of the book there is a short abstract in English.
I would recommend that anyone trying to construct a relational database for an archaeological project read this small book. F. goes over important issues that are present in all attempts to construct useable databases. I was especially impressed by the use of fuzzy logic to deal with many of the problems we have with inconsistent legacy data.
Although I make this recommendation, there are two areas for improvement. First, many of the figures are helpful, but some are too small to be useful. The second, stems from the fact that the book clings closely to the issues worked out in the Ph.D. dissertation, rather than recasting itself for a wider readership. The usefulness of the book would be strongly enhanced by comparisons with archaeological databases already in use. How does it link, how does it differ? This is essential to explore questions of interoperability, which is becoming vital to archaeological studies of cultural change, especially on Crete. At this juncture, I would at least advise anyone using this book to look also at a successful Relational Database, such as the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (https://www.daacs.org/), which, like this current project, links sites.
