Inrap in the European Research Area

Through its programs aiming at promoting scientific cooperation and excellence, the European Research Area is an obvious place for the development of Inrap international activities. Liaising with European universities, governmental agencies and research institutions, the Institute leads and participates in European funded projects selected in various framework programs (Horizon 2020, ERC, Interreg, Creative Europe, etc.).
 

ARIADNEplus (January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2022)

ARIADNEplus, funded by the European Commission under the H2020 Programme (contract H2020-INFRAIA-2018-1-823914), is the continuation of the successful ARIADNE project (2013-2017) for the integration of European archaeological repositories, which created a searchable catalogue of datasets including unpublished reports, images, maps, databases and other kinds of archaeological information accessible online.​

The project does not aggregate or move data, but only the metadata of the datasets, which are maintained and controlled by their owners. At present, about two million datasets have been catalogued, corresponding to a huge amount of information as each dataset may comprise, for example, an entire report with related images, drawings, or a complete database including thousands of individual records. The catalogued content types range from individual finds to monuments and sites inventories and from the report of one single intervention to the results of a long-term archaeological mission. ARIADNEplus will update existing data in the ARIADNE Portal, extend ARIADNE in geographic and temporal coverage, and in the range of topics addressed, now incorporating additional information about scientific analyses. It will also provide services to further process and re-use those data.​

The ARIADNE catalogue is searchable according to the three facets of “when” (time), “where” (space), “what” (object) and keywords drawn from controlled vocabularies. Searching provides a list of the datasets corresponding to the selection criteria with summary information about their content and a link to the source data, which can thus be accessed by the user according to the rules established by the content owner.

The 41 ARIADNEplus partners come from 23 European countries, plus 4 international partners. Inrap is the main French partner of this major project for archeology research.

NEARCH (2013-2018)

Led by Inrap, the NEARCH project, half funded by the European Commission for a period of 5 years (2013-2018) in the framework of the Culture program, is a European collaboration network assembling 16 partners from 11 countries with the aim of exploring and reinforcing the relationships between European citizens, and archaeology and their cultural heritage.

To realize these goals, NEARCH conducts many activities. For example, it studies how European citizens perceive archaeology (survey taken in 9 European countries), encourages collaboration between archaeologists and contemporary artists, engages discussions on the publication practices of archaeology in modern media, and offers funding for mobility between the project’s collaborating partners.

The project is organised around five major themes: Archaeology for the community: informing and involving people; Archaeology for the community: informing and involving people; Archaeology and the knowledge: teaching and sharing information; Archaeology in a changing economy: towards sustainability; European archaeology and the world: dependencies and mutual development.

NEARCH brings together European research institutes, universities and cultural institutions. The twelve co-organisers are: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece); Institute of Heritage Sciences – Spanish National Research Council (Spain); Institute for Artistic, Cultural and Natural Heritage of Emilia-Romagna (Italy); Culture Lab (Belgium); Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology (Netherlands); Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland); University of York, Archaeology Data Service (United Kingdom); German Archaeological Institute (Germany); Jan van Eyck Academie (Netherlands); CENTQUATRE (France); University of Oxford (United Kingdom); University of Gothenburg (Sweden).

The three associated partners are: The Archaeology Unit of the city of Saint-Denis; EAA - European Association of Archaeologists​; ICAHM - International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management.

ARIADNE (2013-2017)

The ARIADNE project “Advanced Research Infrastructure for Archaeological Dataset Networking in Europe”, of which Inrap is a partner, was selected in the framework of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research and technological development. This European research program began on 1 February 2013 for a period of 48 months (until January 2017). It brings together 24 partners from the 16 European countries.

Digital archaeological data are currently very abundant and widely diffused via computer data sharing tools. They nonetheless form a large and fragmented corpus that is difficult to access, thus limiting their use potential.

The goal of ARIADNE is therefore to assemble and merge the various existing infrastructures to create a European digital platform enabling access to the data generated by archaeological research. The project also includes the creation of a dynamic community of users, as well as training and research activities for these new tools.

The role of Inrap in this project is to contribute its expertise in preventive archaeology and the data generated by this particular field of research. Inrap also participates in activities related to the sharing of good practices and the creation of a network of researchers.

ACE (2008-2012)

Led by Inrap, the project "Archeology in Contemporary Europe" (ACE) was selected and funded by the Culture Program (2007-2013) of the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.

The project aimed at promoting archaeology as practice of cultural, scientific, and economic dimensions at a European level. This is the very reason why heritage and archaeological organizations from 10 different European countries were invited to participated in the project.

The idea was to was to build up a network that could offer a comparative analysis of archaeology and the value of the past in the present-day Europe. All activities undertaken within ACE have been grouped around four objectives: explore the scope of archeology in the contemporary world; confront archaeological practices; contribute to the recognition of the professions of archeology; develop mediation with the public.

List of the 12 other partners: Archeology Data Service, University of York, Great Britain; Uniwerstytet im. Adama Mickiewicza (Adam Mickiewicz University), Poznan, Poland; Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece; Istituto per i Beni Artistici, Cultural and Naturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, Italy; Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio del CSIC, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Onroerend Erfgoed (Flemish Heritage Agency), Brussels, Belgium; Römisch-Germanische Kommission, Frankfurt, Germany; University Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands; Culture Lab - International Cultural Expertise, Brussels; Kineon, association of the archaeological film festival, Brussels; Kulturális Örökségvédelmi Hivatal (Hungarian National Heritage Office), Budapest; Archeology Unit of the City of Saint-Denis, France.