Digitisation / Cataloguing of non-textual objects: Digital archive on archaeology and environmental history of north-eastern and south-western Africa

50多年来，科隆大学的史前考古研究所一直在非洲进行考古研究。1963年，纳米比亚开始了第一次岩石艺术研究，1980年代初，另一个研究重点在非洲东北部建立起来。在此之前，这两个地区基本上都是史前研究的未知领域。各种项目的重点部分是岩石艺术，部分是人与环境的关系。在国际上享有声誉并由DFG资助的项目包括：“上布兰德堡的岩画”（1977-1985）和“东撒哈拉的定居史”（B.O.S, 1979- 1993）以及ACACIA 389合作研究中心（1995-2007）。成立于1984年的非洲考古博物馆收藏了大量的考古发现、挖掘文件、来自这些大型项目的痕迹和照片，以及来自单个项目的材料。除此之外，还有来自外部资源和项目的材料。所有这些非洲考古学和环境史的见证者都引起了国际社会的高度关注，尽管这些研究项目的基本成果已经广泛发表：15部关于南部非洲岩石艺术及其考古背景的大型专著已经出版，另外13部关于东北部非洲全新世史前史的专著已经出版。但是，缺乏一种可持续和标准化的基本材料存档方式。德国政府资助的项目（科隆非洲考古档案馆）自2012年启动以来，一直致力于用最先进的技术将丰富的考古材料存档。与科隆大学考古研究所的在线档案馆Arachne合作，非洲考古收藏的大部分已经数字化，并在开放获取档案馆中向公众开放。这个档案不仅是一个图片数据库，而且还提供全面的数据和文件，从而可供考古分析使用。然而，除了图片以外的数字数据需要特殊的工具，才能使它们在与图片相同的级别上可访问。为此，申请了另外18个月的资金，以确保AAArC的全部功能和可操作性。通过这种方式，科学界，特别是非洲伙伴国家的同事和学生可以获得材料和文件。同时，部分独特的照片可以从腐烂中保存下来，收藏中最古老的照片来自1947年。

For more than 50 years the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cologne has conducted archaeological research in Africa. While first rock art research commenced in Namibia in 1963, in the early 1980s another focus of research was established in north-eastern Africa. Until that point both areas largely had been terra incogita of prehistoric investigations. The concentration of various projects was partly on rock art and partly on the human-environment relations. Projects with an international reputation and funding by the DFG were e.g. "The Rock Paintings of the Upper Brandberg" (1977-1985) and "Settlement History of the Eastern Sahara" (B.O.S., 1979- 1993) as well as the Collaborative Research Centre 389 ACACIA (1995-2007). The African Archaeology, which was founded in 1984, hosts rich collections of finds, excavation documentations, tracings and photos from these larger projects as well as materials from individual projects. In top of this there are also materials from external sources and projects. All these witnesses of African archaeology and environmental history meet with high international interest, notwithstanding the fact that the essential results of the research projects have been published extensively: 15 large scale monographs have been published on southern African rock art and its archaeological context, and another 13 monographs on the Holocene prehistory of north-eastern Africa. However, a sustainable and standardized manner of archiving of the basic materials was missing. With its start in 2012 the DFG-funded project AAArC (African Archaeology Archive Cologne) has endeavoured to archive the rich inventory of archaeological materials in state of the art technology. In cooperation with Arachne, the online archive of the Archaeological Institute of the University of Cologne, large parts of the African Archaeology collections have been digitized and made accessible to the public in the open access archive. This archive is not only a picture database but also serves the comprehensive presentation of data and documents which thus are made accessible for archaeological analysis. Digital data other than pictures, however, require special tools in order to make them accessible on the same level as pictures. For this reason another 18 months of funding are applied for to secure the full functionality and operability of AAArC. This way materials and documents become accessible to the scientific community and in particular to colleagues and students in the African partner countries. At the same time partly unique photos can be saved from decay, the oldest pictures of the collection originating from 1947.