Large scale spatial database supporting archaeological research

The experiences in the field of the documentation and the information management to preserve archaeological heritage have led to single out the interdisciplinary cooperation as essential element, particularly inside an archaeological mission where knowledges mix and there is a proliferation of information differently located on the field. This kind of cooperation musn’t restrict itself to a simply comprehension and reworking of data in situ. Thanks to the possibility to create common records, we have the opportunity to possess different kind of data inside a single integrated spatial system, where new interdisciplinary information could develop from recorded data. This approach must be strongly followed up when a number of research organizations of different nationality and cities are working together during a limitated time as in the Archaeological Mission of Hierapolis of Phrygia (Turkey) where our studies in this field are focused. In the past, we already outlined a Geographical Information System, carried out on the base of a digital map at the urban scale of the whole archaeological site. Now, in this communication, we present a part of the system concerning a limitated excavation zone which defines a single residential block of the ancient city and wich is assumed as sample area for testing, at the very large scale, the employment of spatial research methodologies integrated with archaeological data. Following problems are probed in order to allow and improve the management and the spatiotemporal analysis of documentation: • armonization of spatial data to permit different scaled map representations (mainly at urban and architectural scale) inside a unique GIS structure; • concerning the normalization of spatial data, obtained by surveys of different nature, the research has been focused on the definition of homogeneous levels of positional accuracy; • it is in progress a research to coordinate the extensive nature of the archaeological objects (such as territory and environment, urban and architectural structures, excavation areas) with the detailed and defined character of the archaeological data acquired on the field. The products of their rielaborations and the hypotheses of study and reconstruction have a continue nature again (stratigraphic units, wall stratigraphic units, areas with homogeneous temporal phase,…); so they need to be represented by entities having a surface extension.