This class comprises activities of excavating in the sense of archaeology, which are documented as a coherent set of actions of progressively recording and removing matter from a pre-specified location under specific rules. Typically, an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit would be terminated if significant discontinuities of substance or finds come to light, or if the activity is interrupted due to external factors, such as end of a working day. In other cases, the termination would be based on predefined physical specifications, such as the boundaries of a maximal volume of matter to be excavated in one unit of excavation.Depending on the methodology, an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit may intend to remove matter only within the boundaries of a particular stratigraphic unit, or it may follow a pre-declared spatial extent such as a trench. It may only uncover, clean or expose a structure or parts of it.The process of excavation results in the production of a set of recorded (documentation) data that should be sufficient to provide researchers enough information regarding the consistency and spatial distribution of the excavated Segment of Matter and things and features embedded in it. Some parts or all of the removed physical material (instances of S11 Amount of Matter) may be dispersed, whereas others may be kept in custody in the form of finds or samples, while others (such as parts of walls) may be left at the place of their discovery. The data produced by an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit should pertain to the material state of matter at excavation time only and should be clearly distinguished from subsequent interpretation about the causes for this state of matter.The current class A1 Excavation Processing Unit is somewhat overloaded and may be split into two subclasses, one for the intellectual process and one for the physical process. This is left for a future refinement of the model.
This class comprises instances of A8 Stratigraphic Unit which are connected portions of terrain or other solid structures on, in, or under the surface of earth or seafloor exhibiting some homogeneity of structure or substance and which are completely bounded by surfaces or discontinuities in substance or structure with respect to other portions of the terrain or surfaces of objects or finds.Normally at least one of the surfaces, i.e. instances of A3 Stratigraphic Interface (such as the lower one), from the genesis event of the A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit will remain during its existence.An instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit may contain physical objects.
This class comprises instances of A8 Stratigraphic Unit, which are coherent parts of a boundary surface that appear as the result of a stratigraphic genesis event or process. The interface marks the limit of the geometric extent of the effect of a genesis or modification event, and indicates in particular where the effect of this event ended. Each event of creation or destruction of a deposition layer implies the creation of new interfaces. Thus, there are two main types of interfaces: those that are surfaces of strata (that can be directly related to the corresponding stratum via the AP12 confines property), and those that are only surfaces, formed by the removal or destruction of existing stratifications.
This class comprises activities or processes that have produced homogeneous, distinguishable units of stratification that are in a relatively stable form from the time of their genesis until they are observed. Such processes may be the aggregation of cycles of erosion/destruction, deposit/accumulation, or transformation/modification occurring on a particular site throughout a particular period of time. These processes are usually not only due to natural forces (i.e., climate, the impact of flora and fauna, other natural events), but also to human activities, in particular excavation and construction. An event of stratification genesis typically produces two main forms of stratification units, both a deposit and an interface.
This class comprises activities or processes resulting in the modification of Stratigraphic Units after their genesis through instances of A4 Stratigraphic Genesis Event.
This class comprises interpretive activities that lead to the recognition two or more instances of Stratigraphic Units (A8) or other Physical Thing (E18) that simultaneously exist at the time of this activity or at the time of an archaeological observation this activity refers to as source and that are attributed to be the remains of one complete instance of Physical Thing (E18) that had existed at a time of reference in the past. Instances of this class could be, for example: two stratigraphic units (with no evident contact) cut through by a ditch having been segments of the same original stratigraphic unit, two or more surviving parts of a structure having been segments of the same wall (B5), a number of postholes being the indication of a past wooden house or a number of potsherds being segments of the same original artefact.
This class comprises instances of A8 Stratigraphic Unit partially or completely embedding one or more instances of E20 Physical Thing and at a particular position with relative stability in one or more instances of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Units. Normally, an embedding is expected to have been stable from the time of generation of the first instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit that surrounds it. However, it may also be due to later intrusion. As an empirical fact, the expert may only be able to decide that a particular embedding is not recent, i.e. has been persisting for longer than the activity that encountered it. This class can be used to document the fact of embedding generally with respect to the surrounding matter or, more specifically, with respect to a more precise position within this matter.
This class comprises instances of S20 Rigid Physical Features which appear as the result of a stratigraphic genesis event or process. The form of an instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit should be of a kind that can be attributed to a single genesis event or process and has the potential to be observed. One genesis event may have created more than one SU. An instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit is regarded to exist as long as a part of its matter is still in place with respect to a surrounding reference space, such that its spatial features can be associated with effects of the genesis process of interest.This also implies that a certain degree of coherent (“conformal”) deformation is tolerable within its time-span of existence. Therefore, the place an instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit occupies can be uniquely identified with respect to the surrounding reference space of archaeological interest
This class describes the general concept of archaeological excavation intended as a coordinated set of activities performed on an area considered as part of a broader topographical, rural, urban, or monumental context. An archaeological excavation is usually under the responsibility of a coordinator, officially designated, which is legally and scientifically responsible for all the activities carried out within each instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit and is also responsible for the documentation of the whole process.
This class comprises instances of S20 Rigid Physical Feature that constitutes a surface produced through one or several instances of A1 Excavation Processing Unit. Instances are often documented through drawing and/or measured by technical means such as photography, tachymetry or laser scanning. Using a planar excavation methodology this is typically the surface of a planum or the surface of a profile. Using a stratigraphic excavation methodology, the instance of A10 Excavation Interface would have the intention to approximate an instance of A3 Stratigraphic Interface. The drawing and measurement of profiles is also common practice when a stratigraphic excavation methodology is used.
This class comprises all things in the universe of discourse of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model. It is an abstract concept providing for three general properties:Identification by name or appellation, and in particular by a preferred identifierClassification by type, allowing further refinement of the specific subclass an instance belongs to Attachment of free text and other unstructured data for the expression of anything not captured by formal propertiesAll other classes within the CIDOC CRM are directly or indirectly specialisations of E1 CRM Entity.
This class comprises all phenomena, such as the instances of E4 Periods and E5 Events, which happen over a limited extent in time. This extent in time must be contiguous, i.e., without gaps. In case the defining kinds of phenomena for an instance of E2 Temporal Entity cease to happen, and occur later again at another time, we regard that the former instance of E2 Temporal Entity has ended and a new instance has come into existence. In more intuitive terms, the same event cannot happen twice.In some contexts, such phenomena are also called perdurants. This class is disjoint from E77 Persistent Item and is an abstract class that typically has no direct instances. E2 Temporal Entity is specialized into E4 Period, which applies to a particular geographic area (defined with a greater or lesser degree of precision), and E3 Condition State, which applies to instances of E18 Physical Thing.
This class comprises sets of coherent phenomena or cultural manifestations occurring in time and space.It is the social or physical coherence of these phenomena that identify an instance of E4 Period and not the associated spatiotemporal extent. This extent is only the “ground” or space in an abstract physical sense that the actual process of growth, spread and retreat has covered. Consequently, different periods can overlap and coexist in time and space, such as when a nomadic culture exists in the same area and time as a sedentary culture. This also means that overlapping land use rights, common among first nations, amounts to overlapping periods.Often, this class is used to describe prehistoric or historic periods such as the “Neolithic Period”, the “Ming Dynasty” or the “McCarthy Era”, but also geopolitical units and activities of settlements are regarded as special cases of E4 Period. However, there are no assumptions about the scale of the associated phenomena. In particular all events are seen as synthetic processes consisting of coherent phenomena. Therefore, E4 Period is a superclass of E5 Event. For example, a modern clinical birth, an instance of E67 Birth, can be seen as both a single event, i.e., an instance of E5 Event, and as an extended period, i.e., an instance of E4 Period, that consists of multiple physical processes and complementary activities performed by multiple instances of E39 Actor.As the actual extent of an instance of E4 Period in spacetime we regard the trajectories of the participating physical things during their participation in an instance of E4 Period. This includes the open spaces via which these things have interacted and the spaces by which they had the potential to interact during that period or event in the way defined by the type of the respective period or event. Examples include the air in a meeting room transferring the voices of the participants. Since these phenomena are fuzzy, we assume the spatiotemporal extent to be contiguous, except for cases of phenomena spreading out over islands or other separated areas, including geopolitical units distributed over disconnected areas such as islands or colonies.Whether the trajectories necessary for participants to travel between these areas are regarded as part of the spatiotemporal extent or not has to be decided in each case based on a concrete analysis, taking use of the sea for other purposes than travel, such as fishing, into consideration. One may also argue that the activities to govern disconnected areas imply travelling through spaces connecting them and that these areas hence are spatially connected in a way, but it appears counterintuitive to consider for instance travel routes in international waters as extensions of geopolitical units.Consequently, an instance of E4 Period may occupy a number of disjoint spacetime volumes, however there must not be a discontinuity in the time-span covered by these spacetime volumes. This means that an instance of E4 Period must be contiguous in time. If it has ended in all areas, it has ended as a whole. However, it may end in one area before another, such as in the Polynesian migration, and it continues as long as it is ongoing in at least one area.We model E4 Period as a subclass of E2 Temporal Entity and of E92 Spacetime Volume. The latter is intended as a phenomenal spacetime volume as defined in CIDOC CRMgeo (Doerr Hiebel, 2013). By virtue of this multiple inheritance, we can discuss the physical extent of an instance of E4 Period without representing each instance of it together with an instance of its associated spacetime volume. This model combines two quite different kinds of substance: an instance of E4 Period is a phenomenon while an instance of E92 Spacetime Volume is an aggregation of points in spacetime. However, the real spatiotemporal extent of an instance of E4 Period is regarded to be unique to it due to all its details and fuzziness; its identity and existence depends uniquely on the identity of the instance of E4 Period. Therefore, this multiple inheritance is unambiguous and effective and furthermore corresponds to the intuitions of natural language.Typical use of this class in cultural heritage documentation is for documenting cultural and artistic periods. There are two different conceptualisations of ‘artistic style’, defined either by physical features or by historical context. For example, “Impressionism” can be viewed as a period in the European sphere of influence lasting from approximately 1870 to 1905 during which paintings with particular characteristics were produced by a group of artists that included (among others) Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Degas. Alternatively, it can be regarded as a style applicable to all paintings sharing the characteristics of the works produced by the Impressionist painters, regardless of historical context. The first interpretation is an instance of E4 Period, and the second defines morphological object types that fall under E55 Type.A geopolitical unit as a specific case of an instance of E4 Period is the set of activities and phenomena related to the claim of power, the consequences of belonging to a jurisdictional area and an administrative system that establishes a geopolitical unit. Examples from the modern period are countries or administrative areas of countries such as districts whose actions and structures define activities and phenomena in the area that they intend to govern. The borders of geopolitical units are often defined in contracts or treaties although they may deviate from the actual practice. The spatiotemporal properties of Geopolitical units can be modelled through the properties inherited from E92 Spacetime Volume.Another specific case of an instance of E4 Period is the actual extent of the set of activities and phenomena as evidenced by their physical traces that define a settlement, such as the populated period of Nineveh.
This class comprises distinct, delimited and coherent processes and interactions of a material nature, in cultural, social or physical systems, involving and affecting instances of E77 Persistent Item in a way characteristic of the kind of process. Typical examples are meetings, births, deaths, actions of decision taking, making or inventing things, but also more complex and extended ones such as conferences, elections, building of a castle, or battles.While the continuous growth of a tree lacks the limits characteristic of an event, its germination from a seed does qualify as an event. Similarly, the blowing of the wind lacks the distinctness and limits of an event, but a hurricane, flood or earthquake would qualify as an event. Mental processes are considered as events, in cases where they are connected with the material externalization of their results; for example, the creation of a poem, a performance or a change of intention that becomes obvious from subsequent actions or declarations.The effects of an instance of E5 Event may not lead to relevant permanent changes of properties or relations of the items involved in it, for example an unrecorded performance. Of course, in order to be documented, some kind of evidence for an event must exist, be it witnesses, traces or products of the event.While instances of E4 Period always require some form of coherence between its constituent phenomena, in addition, the essential constituents of instances of E5 Event should contribute to an overall effect; for example, the statements made during a meeting and the listening of the audience.Viewed at a coarse level of detail, an instance of E5 Event may appear as if it had an ‘instantaneous’ overall effect, but any process or interaction of material nature in reality have an extent in time and space. At a fine level, instances of E5 Event may be analysed into component phenomena and phases within a space and timeframe, and as such can be seen as a period, regardless of the size of the phenomena. The reverse is not necessarily the case: not all instances of E4 Period give rise to a noteworthy overall effect and are thus not instances of E5 Event.
This class comprises actions intentionally carried out by instances of E39 Actor that result in changes of state in the cultural, social, or physical systems documented. This notion includes complex, composite and long-lasting actions such as the building of a settlement or a war, as well as simple, short-lived actions such as the opening of a door.
This class comprises instances of E7 Activity that are undertaken to create, alter or change instances of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing.This class includes the production of an item from raw materials and other so far undocumented objects. It also includes the conservation treatment of an object.Since the distinction between modification and production is not always clear, modification is regarded as the more generally applicable concept. This implies that some items may be consumed or destroyed in an instance of E11 Modification, and that others may be produced as a result of it. An event should also be documented using an instance of E81 Transformation if it results in the destruction of one or more objects and the simultaneous production of others using parts or material from the originals. In this case, the new items have separate identities.An activity undertaken on an object which was designed to alter it, but which, in fact, it did not in any seemingly significant way (such as the application of a solvent during conservation which failed to dissolve any part of the object), is still considered as an instance of E11 Modification. Typically, any such activity will leave at least forensic traces of evidence on the object.If the instance of E29 Design or Procedure utilized for the modification prescribes the use of specific materials, they should be documented using property P68 foresees use of (use foreseen by): E57 Material of E29 Design or Procedure, rather than via P126 employed (was employed in): E57 Material.
This class comprises activities that are designed to, and succeed in, creating one or more new items. It specializes the notion of modification into production. The decision as to whether or not an object is regarded as new is context sensitive. Normally, items are considered “new” if there is no obvious overall similarity between them and the consumed items and material used in their production. In other cases, an item is considered “new” because it becomes relevant to documentation by a modification. For example, the scribbling of a name on a potsherd may make it a voting token. The original potsherd may not be worth documenting, in contrast to the inscribed one. This entity can be collective: the printing of a thousand books, for example, would normally be considered a single event. An event should also be documented using an instance of E81 Transformation if it results in the destruction of one or more objects and the simultaneous production of others using parts or material from the originals. In this case, the new items have separate identities and matter is preserved, but identity is not.
This class comprises the actions of making assertions about one property of an object or any single relation between two items or concepts. The type of the property asserted to hold between two items or concepts can be described by the property P177 assigned property of type (is type of property assigned): E55 Type. For example, the class describes the actions of people making propositions and statements during certain scientific/scholarly procedures, e.g., the person and date when a condition statement was made, an identifier was assigned, the museum object was measured, etc. Which kinds of such assignments and statements need to be documented explicitly in structures of a schema rather than free text, depends on whether this information should be accessible by structured queries.This class allows for the documentation of how the respective assignment came about, and whose opinion it was. Note that all instances of properties described in a knowledge base are the opinion of someone. Per default, they are the opinion of the team maintaining the knowledge base. This fact must not individually be registered for all instances of properties provided by the maintaining team, because it would result in an endless recursion of whose opinion was the description of an opinion. Therefore, the use of instances of E13 Attribute Assignment marks the fact, that the maintaining team is in general neutral to the validity of the respective assertion, but registers someone else’s opinion and how it came about.All properties assigned in such an action can also be seen as directly relating the respective pair of items or concepts. Multiple use of instances of E13 Attribute Assignment may possibly lead to a collection of contradictory values. All cases of properties in this model that are also described indirectly through a subclass of E13 Attribute Assignment are characterised as "short cuts" of a path via this subclass. This redundant modelling of two alternative views is preferred because many implementations may have good reasons to model either the action of assertion or the short cut, and the relation between both alternatives can be captured by simple rules.
This class comprises all persistent physical items with a relatively stable form, human-made or natural.Depending on the existence of natural boundaries of such things, the CIDOC CRM distinguishes the instances of E19 Physical Object from instances of E26 Physical Feature, such as holes, rivers, pieces of land etc. Most instances of E19 Physical Object can be moved (if not too heavy), whereas features are integral to the surrounding matter.An instance of E18 Physical Thing occupies not only a particular geometric space at any instant of its existence, but in the course of its existence it also forms a trajectory through spacetime, which occupies a real, that is phenomenal, volume in spacetime. We include in the occupied space the space filled by the matter of the physical thing and all its inner spaces, such as the interior of a box. For the purpose of more detailed descriptions of the presence of an instance of E18 Physical Thing in space and time it can be associated with its specific instance of E92 Spacetime Volume by the property P196 defines (is defined by). The CIDOC CRM is generally not concerned with amounts of matter in fluid or gaseous states, as long as they are not confined in an identifiable way for an identifiable minimal time-span.
This class comprises all persistent physical items of any size that are purposely created by human activity. This class comprises, besides others, Human-Made objects, such as a sword, and Human-Made features, such as rock art. For example, a “cup and ring” carving on bedrock is regarded as instance of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing.Instances of Human-Made thing may be the result of modifying pre-existing physical things, preserving larger parts or most of the original matter and structure, which poses the question if they are new or even Human-Made, the respective interventions of production made on such original material should be obvious and sufficient to regard that the product has a new, distinct identity and intended function and is human-made. Substantial continuity of the previous matter and structure in the new product can be documented by describing the production process also as an instance of E81 Transformation.Whereas interventions of conservation and repair are not regarded to produce a new Human-Made thing, the results of preparation of natural history specimens that substantially change their natural or original state should be regarded as physical Human-Made things, including the uncovering of petrified biological features from a solid piece of stone. On the other side, scribbling a museum number on a natural object should not be regarded to make it Human-Made. This notwithstanding, parts, sections, segments, or features of a physical Human-Made thing may continue to be non-Human-Made and preserved during the production process, for example natural pearls used as a part of an eardrop.
This class comprises identifiable features that are physically attached in an integral way to particular physical objects. Instances of E26 Physical Feature share many of the attributes of instances of E19 Physical Object. They may have a one-, two- or three-dimensional geometric extent, but there are no natural borders that separate them completely in an objective way from the carrier objects. For example, a doorway is a feature but the door itself, being attached by hinges, is not. Instances of E26 Physical Feature can be features in a narrower sense, such as scratches, holes, reliefs, surface colours, reflection zones in an opal crystal or a density change in a piece of wood. In the wider sense, they are portions of particular objects with partially imaginary borders, such as the core of the Earth, an area of property on the surface of the Earth, a landscape or the head of a contiguous marble statue. They can be measured and dated, and it is sometimes possible to state who or what is or was responsible for them. They cannot be separated from the carrier object, but a segment of the carrier object may be identified (or sometimes removed) carrying the complete feature. This definition coincides with the definition of "fiat objects" (Smith Varzi, 2000, pp.401-420), with the exception of aggregates of “bona fide objects”.
This class comprises pieces of land or sea floor. In contrast to the purely geometric notion of E53 Place, this class describes constellations of matter on the surface of the Earth or other celestial body, which can be represented by photographs, paintings and maps.Instances of E27 Site are composed of relatively immobile material items and features in a particular configuration at a particular location.
This class comprises non-material products of our minds and other human produced data that have become objects of a discourse about their identity, circumstances of creation or historical implication. The production of such information may have been supported by the use of technical devices such as cameras or computers.Characteristically, instances of this class are created, invented or thought by someone, and then may be documented or communicated between persons. Instances of E28 Conceptual Object have the ability to exist on more than one particular carrier at the same time, such as paper, electronic signals, marks, audio media, paintings, photos, human memories, etc.They cannot be destroyed. They exist as long as they can be found on at least one carrier or in at least one human memory. Their existence ends when the last carrier and the last memory are lost.
This class comprises extents in the natural space we live in, in particular on the surface of the Earth, in the pure sense of physics: independent from temporal phenomena and matter. They may serve describing the physical location of things or phenomena or other areas of interest. Geometrically, instances of E53 Place constitute single contiguous areas or a finite aggregation of disjoint areas in space which are each individually contiguous. They may have fuzzy boundaries. The instances of E53 Place are usually determined by reference to the position of “immobile” objects such as buildings, cities, mountains, rivers, or dedicated geodetic marks, but may also be determined by reference to mobile objects. A Place can be determined by combining a frame of reference and a location with respect to this frame. It is sometimes argued that instances of E53 Place are best identified by global coordinates or absolute reference systems. However, relative references are often more relevant in the context of cultural documentation and tend to be more precise. In particular, we are often interested in position in relation to large, mobile objects, such as ships. For example, the Place at which Nelson died is known with reference to a large mobile object – H.M.S Victory. A resolution of this Place in terms of absolute coordinates would require knowledge of the movements of the vessel and the precise time of death, either of which may be revised, and the result would lack historical and cultural relevance.Any instance of E18 Physical Thing can serve as a frame of reference for an instance of E53 Place. This may be documented using the property P157 is at rest relative to (provides reference space for).
This class comprises concepts denoted by terms from thesauri and controlled vocabularies used to characterize and classify instances of CIDOC CRM classes. Instances of E55 Type represent concepts in contrast to instances of E41 Appellation which are used to name instances of CIDOC CRM classes. E55 Type is the CIDOC CRM’s interface to domain specific ontologies and thesauri. These can be represented in the CIDOC CRM as subclasses of E55 Type, forming hierarchies of terms, i.e., instances of E55 Type linked via P127 has broader term (has narrower term): E55 Type. Such hierarchies may be extended with additional properties.
This class comprises events that bring into existence any instance of E77 Persistent Item. It may be used for temporal reasoning about things (intellectual products, physical items, groups of people, living beings) beginning to exist; it serves as a hook for determination of a “terminus post quem” or “terminus ante quem”.
This class comprises events that end the existence of any instance of E77 Persistent Item. It may be used for temporal reasoning about things (physical items, groups of people, living beings) ceasing to exist; it serves as a hook for determination of a “terminus post quem” or “terminus ante quem”. In cases where substance from an instance of E77 Persistent Item continues to exist in a new form, the process would be documented as instances of E81 Transformation.
This general class comprises discrete, identifiable, instances of E77 Persistent Item that are documented as single units, that either consist of matter or depend on being carried by matter and are characterized by relative stability. They may be intellectual products or physical things. They may for instance have a solid physical form, an electronic encoding, or they may be a logical concept or structure.
This class comprises discrete, identifiable human-made items that are documented as single units. These items are either intellectual products or human-made physical things, and are characterized by relative stability. They may for instance have a solid physical form, an electronic encoding, or they may be logical concepts or structures.
This class comprises those material or immaterial items to which instances of E30 Right, such as the right of ownership or use, can be applied. This is true for all instances of E18 Physical Thing. In the case of instances of E28 Conceptual Object, however, the identity of an instance of E28 Conceptual Object or the method of its use may be too ambiguous to reliably establish instances of E30 Right, as in the case of taxa and inspirations. Ownership of corporations is currently regarded as out of scope of the CIDOC CRM.
This class comprises items that have persistent characteristics of structural nature substantially related to their identity and their integrity, sometimes known as “endurants” in philosophy. Persistent Items may be physical entities, such as people, animals or things, conceptual entities such as ideas, concepts, products of the imagination or even names. Instances of E77 Persistent Item may be present or be part of interactions in different periods or events. They can repeatedly be recognized at disparate occasions during their existence by characteristics of structural nature. The respective characteristics need not be exactly the same during all the existence of an instance of E77 Persistent Item. Often, they undergo gradual change, still bearing some similarities with that of previous times, or disappear completely and new emerge. For instance, a person, from the time of being born on, will gradually change all its features and acquire new ones, such as a scar. Even the DNA in different body cells will develop defects and mutations. Nevertheless, relevant characteristics used should be sufficiently similar to recognize the instance for some substantial period of time. The more specific criteria that determine the identity of instances of subclasses of E77 Persistent Item may vary considerably and are described or referred to in the respective scope notes. The decision about which exact criteria to use depends on whether the observable behaviour of the respective part of reality such confined conforms to the reasoning the user is interested in. For example, a building can be regarded as no longer existing if it is dismantled and the materials reused in a different configuration. On the other hand, human beings go through radical and profound changes during their life-span, affecting both material composition and form, yet preserve their identity by other criteria, such as being bodily separated from other persons. Similarly, inanimate objects may be subject to exchange of parts and matter. On the opposite, the identity of a (version of a) text of a scientific publication is given by the exact arrangement of its relevant symbols. The main classes of objects that fall outside the scope of the E77 Persistent Item class are temporal objects such as periods, events and acts, and descriptive properties. An instance of E77 Persistent Item does not require actual knowledge of the identifying features of the instance being currently known. There may be cases, where the actual identifying features of an instance of E77 Persistent Item are not decidable at a particular state of knowledge.
This class comprises 4-dimensional point sets (volumes) in physical spacetime (in contrast to mathematical models of it) regardless their true geometric forms. They may derive their identity from being the extent of a material phenomenon or from being the interpretation of an expression defining an extent in spacetime. Intersections of instances of E92 Spacetime Volume, E53 Place and E52 Time-Span are also regarded as instances of E92 Spacetime Volume. An instance of E92 Spacetime Volume is either contiguous or composed of a finite number of contiguous subsets. Its boundaries may be fuzzy due to the properties of the phenomena it derives from or due to the limited precision up to which defining expression can be identified with a real extent in spacetime. The duration of existence of an instance of E92 Spacetime Volume is its projection on time.
This class comprises the activities that result in an instance of S10 Material Substantial being decreased by the removal of an amount of matter. Typical scenarios include the removal of a component or piece of a physical object, removal of an archaeological or geological layer, taking a tissue sample from a body or a sample of fluid from a body of water. The removed matter may acquire a persistent identity of different nature beyond the act of its removal, such as becoming a physical object in the narrower sense. Such cases should be modeled by using multiple instantiation with adequate concepts of creating the respective items.
This class comprises the activity of gaining scientific knowledge about particular states of physical reality through empirical evidence, experiments and measurements. We define observation in the sense of natural sciences, as a kind of human activity: at some place and within some time-span, certain physical things and their behavior and interactions are observed by human sensory impression, and often enhanced by tools and measurement devices. Observed situations or dimensions may pertain to properties confined to a single instance of S15 Observable Entity or pertain to constellations of multiple instances and relations between them, in particular distances between them. The output of the internal processes of measurement devices that do not require additional human interaction are in general regarded as part of the observation and not as additional inference. Primary data from measurement devices are regarded in this model to be results of observation and can be interpreted as propositions believed to be true within the (known) tolerances and degree of reliability of the device. Measurements and witnessing of events are special cases of observations. Observations result in a belief that certain propositions held at a time within the time-span of the observation. In this model, the degree of confidence in the observed properties is regarded to be “true” by default, but could be described differently by adding a property P3 has note to an instance of S4 Observation
This class comprises constellations of matter with a relative stability of any form sufficient to associate them with a persistent identity, such as being confined to certain extent, having a relative stability of form or structure, or containing a fixed amount of matter. In particular, it comprises physical things in the narrower sense and fluid bodies. It is an abstraction of physical substance for solid and non-solid things of matter.
This class comprises fixed amounts of matter specified as some air, some water, some soil, etc., defined by the total and integrity of their material content. In order to be able to identify and recognize in practice one instance of S11 Amount of Matter, some sort of confinement is needed that serves as a constraint for the enclosed matter and the integrity of the content, such as a bottle. In contrast to instances of E18 Physical Thing, no stability of form is required. The content may be put into another bottle without losing its identity. Subclasses may define very different identity conditions for the integrity of the content, such as chemical composition, or the sequence of layers of a bore core. Whereas an instance of E18 Physical Thing may gradually change form and chemical composition while preserving its identity, such as living beings, an instance of S11 Amount of Matter may lose its identifying features by such processes. What matters for the identity of an instance of S1 Amount of Matter is the preservation of a relevant composition from the initial state of definition onwards.
This class comprises instances of E5 Event or S10 Material Substantial (i.e. items or phenomena, such as physical things, their behaviour, states and interactions or events), that can be observed by measurement or detection devices or by human sensory impression including when enhanced by tools. In order to be observable, instances of E5 Event must consist of some interaction or action of material substance. In some cases, the spatiotemporal confinement of the event itself, such as a flash, a car stopping etc. marks the limits of a documented observation of an event. In other cases, such as the situation of a car passing by a certain object, the spatiotemporal limits of the event of observing itself, as well as the direction of attention or the orientation of used instruments, may constrain the observed detail of a larger process, e.g., noticing the sight of a car passing by; a light emission, etc. Conceptual objects manifest through their carriers such as books, digital media, or even human memory. Attributes of conceptual objects, such as number of words, can be observed on their carriers. If the respective properties between carriers differ, either they carry different instances of conceptual objects or the difference can be attributed to accidental deficiencies in one of the carriers. In that sense even immaterial objects are observable. By this model we address the fact that frequently, the actually observed carriers of conceptual objects are not explicitly identified in documentation, i.e., they are assumed to have existed but they are unknown as individuals.
This class comprises events or processes that result in (generate) physical things, man-made or natural, coming into being in the form by which they are later identified. The creation of a new physical item, at the same time, can be a result of an alteration (modification) – it can become a new thing due to an alteration activity.
This class comprises natural events or man-made processes that create, alter or change physical things, by affecting permanently their form or consistency without changing their identity. Examples include alterations on depositional features-layers by natural factors or disturbance by roots or insects, organic alterations, petrification, etc.
This class comprises activities of S4 Observation (substance) where an E39 Actor encounters an instance of E18 Physical Thing of a kind relevant for the mission of the observation or regarded as potentially relevant for some community (identity). This observation produces knowledge about the existence of the respective thing at a particular place in or on surrounding matter. This knowledge may be new to the group of people the actor belongs to. In that case we would talk about a discovery. The observer may recognize or assign an individual identity of the thing encountered or regard only the type as noteworthy in the associated documentation or report. In archaeology there is a particular interest if an object is found “in situ”, i.e. if its embedding in the surrounding matter supports the assumption that the object was not moved since the archaeologically relevant deposition event. The surrounding matter with the relative position of the object in it as well as the absolute position and time of the observation may be recorded in order to enable inferences about the history of the object. In Biology, additional parameters may be recorded like the kind of ecosystem, if the biological individual survives the observation, what detection or catching devices have been used or if the encounter event supported the detection of a new biological kind (“taxon”).
Any instance of this class is a physical feature with sufficient stability of form in itself and with respect to the physical object bearing it in order to associate a permanent reference space within which its form is invariant and at rest. The maximum volume in space that an instance of S20 Rigid Physical Feature occupies defines uniquely a place for the feature with respect to its surrounding matter. Therefore we model S20 Rigid Physical Feature as a subclass of E26 Physical Feature and of E53 Place. The latter is intended as a phenomenal place as defined in CRMgeo (Doerr and Hiebel 2013). By virtue of this multiple inheritance we can discuss positions relative to the extent of an instance of S20 Rigid Physical Feature without representing each instance of it together with an instance of its associated place. However, since the identity and existence of this place depends uniquely on the identity of the instance of S20 Rigid Physical Feature as matter, this multiple inheritance is unambiguous and effective and furthermore corresponds to the intuitions of natural language. It shortcuts an implicit self-referential path from E26 Physical Feature through P156 occupies, E53 Place, P157 is at rest relative to E26 Physical Feature. In cases of instances of S20 Rigid Physical Feature on or in the surface of earth, the default reference is typically fixed to the closer environment of the tectonic plate or sea floor. In cases of features on mobile objects, the reference space is typically fixed to the geometry of the bearing object. Note that the reference space associated with the instance of S20 Rigid Physical Feature may quite well be deformed over time, as long the continuity of its topology does not become unclear, such as the compression of dinosaur bones in geological layers, or the distortions of the hull of a ship by the waves of the sea. Defined in this way, the reference space can be used as a means to infer from current topological relationships past topological relationships of interest.
This class comprises physical features with relative stability of form and structure within a declared spatial volume of interest. The spatial extent of an instance of S22 Segment of Matter may be declared or defined by a researcher or observer usually because the arrangement and composition of substance is characteristic for the surrounding matter or can be interpreted as traces of its genesis and subsequent internal and external processes it was exposed to. The defining spatial extent is typically declared on a continuous matter by means of geometric determination without observable boundaries on all sides or any side. It may however be extracted at some point in time along the declared boundaries. An instance of S22 Segment of Matter is regarded to be existing from the time on it completely solidified with a structure that is still preserved in a recognizable way at the time of its spatial definition. Its existence is regarded to end when its respective integrity is partially or completely corrupted. Uncorrupted subsections of an instance of S22 Segment of Matter may continue to exist as segments of matter in their own right beyond the existence of the containing instance, and may have solidified before it. Typical examples are segments of archaeological or geological layers. They are regarded as uncorrupted even if they have undergone conformal deformations, such as compressions or shifts, as long as the effects of these deformations do not destroy the relevant structures of interest. This means that the defining spatial volume may be only geometrically valid for an instant of time for which it was declared, and undergo before and after deformations. In some cases, it may be possible to calculate the initial volume at the time of solidification, for instance for petrified bones compressed in Jurassic layers.
This property identifies the S11 Amount of Matter, e.g. a basket, that is preserved (part or total of) from an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit for further examination or evidence keeping.
This property identifies an instance of S11 Amount of Matter discarded (e.g. onto a heap) by an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit.
This property identifies the 3D excavated volume instance of E27 Site, i.e., a three- dimensional volume, that was actually investigated during an A9 Archaeological Excavation.
This property identifies the instance of A10 Excavation Interface that constitutes the new surface produced during an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit in the excavated area. Frequently this surface or parts of it are documented through drawing and/or measured by technical means such as photography, tachymetry or laser scanning.
This property identifies the instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit that was cut during an A1 Excavation Processing Unit.
This property identifies the A3 Stratigraphic Interface that was intended to approximate during an A1 Excavation Processing Unit. This property should be assigned when a stratigraphic excavation methodology is used. It enables the linkage of the surface produced by an A1 Excavation Processing Unit and an A3 Stratigraphic Interface.
This property identifies the instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit that was produced during an instance of A4 Stratigraphic Genesis Event.
This property identifies an A8 Stratigraphic Unit that was disturbed through an A5 Stratigraphic Modification. One A5 Stratigraphic Modification may disturb several A8 Stratigraphic Units.
This property associates an instance of A4 Stratigraphic Genesis with an instance of S10 Material Substantial, from which matter was incorporated in the instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit produced by this genesis.The instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit produced by an instance of A4 Stratigraphic Genesis can be documented by using the property AP7 produced (was produced by) and should be distinct from the instance of S10 Material Substantial from which matter was taken. The latter instance will be modified or cease to exist due to this genesis process.
This property identifies the S22 Segment of Matter that was destroyed through an A1 Excavation Processing Unit. The spatial extent of the instance of S22 Segment of Matter is defined by the extent of the spatial 3-dimensional projection of the A1 Excavation Processing Unit. Depending on the granularity of the documented instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit, different instances of S22 Segment of Matter may be identified by the A10 property.
This property identifies the physical relationship between two A8 Stratigraphic Units. The described relationship may be between two adjacent instances of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit sharing a common interface (instance of A3 Stratigraphic Interface), between an instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit and one of its adjacent interfaces, such as human-made cuts or earthquake induced faults, or even between two intersecting interfaces.The type of physical relationships found between stratigraphic units in archaeological or geological documentation is documented through the property AP11.1 has type. The type applies to the direction from the domain to the range of the property AP11 has physical relation to (is physically related from). The type of physical relationship typically constitutes strong evidence for the sequence of genesis of the related stratigraphic units, which can be documented by the property AP13 has stratigraphic relation to (is stratigraphically related by). The type may either pertain to a relative topology, such as the one being “under” the other, or to the fine-structure of the interface between them, such as a layer of concrete having filled out earlier micro-cavities in various directions in the interface before solidifying.
This property identifies partly or completely the surface (A3 Stratigraphic Interface) of an A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit. One A3 Stratigraphic Interface may confine two or more A2 Stratigraphic Volume Units.
This property identifies the stratigraphic relation between two A5 Stratigraphic Modification events. This relation may be inferred from the kind of physical relation that exists between the two AP 8 Stratigraphic Units that have been created or modified during the corresponding A5 Stratigraphic Modification events. The type of stratigraphic relationships in archaeological documentation assigned to two A5 Stratigraphic Modification events is documented through the property AP 13.1 has type.
This property indicates that an instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit can be the remains of or contain the remains of an instance of S10 Material Substantial.
This property indicates an instance of E18 Physical Thing that was assigned by an instance of A6 Group Declaration Event as remains of the target of this instance of A6 Group Declaration Event.
This property associates an instance of S19 Encounter Event with an instance of A7 Embedding that has been found during this event.
This property identifies the E18 Physical Thing that is contained in an A7 Embedding.
This property identifies the instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit that contains the A7 Embedding. An Embedding may not extend over more than one instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit.
This property associates an E18 Physical Thing that is found within an A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit with the stratigraphic volume unit. AP21 contains (is contained in) is a shortcut for the more detailed path from E18 Physical Thing through AP18i is embedded, A7 Embedding, AP19 is embedding in, A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit.
This property symmetrically identifies a situation in which the starting point and the ending point for an instance of E2 Temporal Entity is equal to the starting point and the ending point of another instance of E2 Temporal Entity, respectively.This property is only necessary if the time span is unknown (otherwise the equivalence can be calculated).This property is the same as the "equal" relationship of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).This property is transitive.
This property identifies a situation in which the ending point of an instance of E2 Temporal Entity is equal to the ending point of another temporal entity of longer duration. There is no causal relationship implied by this property.This property is only necessary if the time span is unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated). This property is the same as the "finishes / finished-by" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).This property is transitive.
This property identifies a situation in which the starting point for an instance of E2 Temporal Entity is equal to the starting point of another instance of E2 Temporal Entity of longer duration.This property is only necessary if the time span is unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated). This property is the same as the "starts / started-by" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).This property is transitive.
This property identifies the situation in which the entire temporal extent of an instance of E2 Temporal Entity is within the temporal extent of another instance of E2 Temporal Entity that starts before and ends after the included temporal entity.This property is only necessary if the time span is unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated). This property is the same as the "during / includes" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).This property is transitive.
This property identifies a situation in which there is an overlap between the temporal extents of two instances of E2 Temporal Entity.It implies a temporal order between the two entities: if A overlaps in time B, then A must start before B, and B must end after A. This property is only necessary if the relevant time spans are unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated).This property is the same as the "overlaps / overlapped-by" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).
This property identifies a situation in which one instance of E2 Temporal Entity immediately follows another instance of E2 Temporal Entity.It implies a particular order between the two entities: if A meets in time with B, then A must precede B. This property is only necessary if the relevant time spans are unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated).This property is the same as the "meets / met-by" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).
This property identifies the relative chronological sequence of two temporal entities.It implies that a temporal gap exists between the end of A and the start of B. This property is only necessary if the relevant time spans are unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated).This property is the same as the "before / after" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic(Allen, 1983).This property is transitive.
This property associates a kind of object (documented as an instance of E55 Type) with an instance of E4 Period indicating that objects of this kind have been brought into existence during this period. The genesis of such objects may be the result of human, biological, geological or other processes. This property makes a weak statement about the distribution of the associated object kind in the archaeological record: that is, if the genesis of an object of the type can plausibly be assumed to fall within the genesis of the context within which it was found, then this property supports reasoning, ceteris paribus, that the genesis period of the context forms part of, or overlaps with, one of the instances of E4 Period in which the respective object type has appeared. Such weak statements may also be useful in the context of geological or paleontological observations. Stronger claims can be made using the properties AP30 restricted to and AP31 typical for.
This property associates a kind of object (documented as an instance of E55 Type) with an instance of E4 Period indicating that objects of this kind have been generated exclusively in this period. This property makes a strong statement concerning the distribution of the associated object kind in the observed record: If the genesis of an object of this type can plausibly be assumed to fall within the genesis of the context in which it was found, then the statement made with this property would support reasoning, ceteris paribus, that the genesis period of the find context actually forms part of the related instance of E4 Period, or at least overlaps with it. In contrast, objects from previous periods may appear in a context because they are still in use, and objects from later periods may have been displaced into an older context. Weaker claims can be made using the properties AP29 appears in (gas appearing type) and AP31 typical for (has typical type).
This property associates a kind of object (documented as an instance of E55 Type) with an instance of E4 Period indicating that objects of this kind have been generated in this period in significantly greater numbers and in wider distributions, than in other periods. This property makes a moderate statement concerning the distribution of the associated object kind in the observed record: If a "sufficient number" of objects of this type are found in a context, and their genesis can plausibly be assumed to fall within the genesis of the find context, then the statement made with this property would support reasoning, ceteris paribus, that the genesis period of the find context is likely to form part of the related instance of E4 Period, or at least overlap with it. “Sufficient number” means that the density of objects of this kind in the find context is compatible with the general density that this kind of object had during the associated period in contexts of a comparable nature and deposition history. A stronger claim can be made using AP30 restricted to (restricts appearance of) while a weaker claim would use AP29 appears in (has appearing type).
This property identifies the S11 Amount of Matter (e.g. a heap) into which material from an A1 Excavation Processing Unit is discarded.The same instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit may discard matter into multiple heaps, but also simply throw away the excavated matter without any order or exported to be deposited elsewhere, thereby breaking any close correspondence between the excavation and the deposit.
This property associates an instance of S1 Matter Removal with the instance of S10 Material Substantial that this activity diminished. Although an instance of S1 Matter Removal activity normally concerns only one item of S10 Material Substantial, it is possible to imagine circumstances under which more than one item might be diminished by a single Matter Removal activity. An instance S1 Matter Removal activity requires to diminish at least one item of S10 Material Substantial. This may be realized by any of the subproperties of O1 diminished. Therefore the instantiation of a particular subproperty of O1 diminished is not necessary.
This property associates an instance of S1 Matter Removal with the instance of S11 Amount of Matter that it has removed.
This property associates an instance of S4 Observation with an instance of S15 Observable Entity that was observed. Specifically it describes that a thing, a feature, a phenomenon or its reaction is observed by an activity of Observation.
This property associates an instance of S17 Physical Genesis event with an instance of E18 Physical Thing that the event generated.
This property associates an instance of S18 Alteration process with an instance of E18 Physical Thing which was altered by this activity.
This property associates an instance of E18 Physical Thing with another instance of Physical Thing that forms part of it. The spatial extent of the composing part is included in the spatial extent of the whole.Component elements, since they are themselves instances of E18 Physical Thing, may be further analysed into sub-components, thereby creating a hierarchy of part decomposition. An instance of E18 Physical Thing may be shared between multiple wholes, for example two buildings may share a common wall. This property does not specify when and for how long a component element resided in the respective whole. If a component is not part of a whole from the beginning of existence or until the end of existence of the whole, the classes E79 Part Addition and E90 Part Removal can be used to document when a component became part of a particular whole and/or when it stopped being a part of it. For the time-span of being part of the respective whole, the component is completely contained in the place the whole occupies.This property is intended to describe specific components that are individually documented, rather than general aspects. Overall descriptions of the structure of an instance of E18 Physical Thing are captured by the P3 has note property.The instances of E57 Material of which an instance of E18 Physical Thing is composed should be documented using P45 consists of (is incorporated in).This property is transitive and asymmetric.
This property links an instance of E64 End of Existence to the instance of E77 Persistent Item taken out of existence by it.In the case of immaterial things, the instance of E64 End of Existence is considered to take place with the destruction of the last physical carrier.This allows an “end” to be attached to any instance of E77 Persistent Item being documented i.e., instances of E70 Thing, E72 Legal Object, E39 Actor, E41 Appellation and E55 Type. For many instances of E77 Persistent Item we know the maximum life-span and can infer that they must have ended to exist. We assume in that case an instance of E64 End of Existence, which may be as unnoticeable as forgetting the secret knowledge by the last representative of some indigenous nation.
This property identifies the instance of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing that came into existence as a result of the instance of E12 Production.The identity of an instance of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing is not defined by its matter, but by its existence as a subject of documentation. An E12 Production can result in the creation of multiple instances of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing.
This property associates an instance of E13 Attribute Assignment with the instance of E1 CRM Entity about which it made an attribution. The instance of E1 CRM Entity plays the role of the domain of the attribution. The kind of attribution made should be documented using P177 assigned property of type (is type of property assigned).
This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity starts before or simultaneously with the end of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity.In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Astart ≤ Bend is true.This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to the disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, met-by, overlaps, starts, started-by, contains, finishes, finished-by, equals, during, overlapped by}.This property is not transitive. Figure 8: Temporal entity A starts before or with the end of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 9: Temporal entity A starts before or with the end of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity starts definitely before the end of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Astart end is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, starts, started-by, contains, finishes, finished-by, equals, during, overlapped by}Typically, this property is a consequence of a known influence of some event on another event or activity, such as a novel written by someone being continued by someone else, or the knowledge of a defeat on a distant battlefield causing people to end their ongoing activities. This property is not transitive. This property is irreflexive. Figure 10: Temporal entity A starts before the end of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 11: Temporal entity A starts before the end of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity starts before or simultaneously with the start of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Astart ≤ Bstart is true.This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, starts, started-by, contains, finished-by, equals}In a model with fuzzy borders, this property will not be transitive.This property is irreflexive. Figure 12: Temporal entity A starts before or with the start of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 13: Temporal entity A starts before or with the start of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity starts definitely before the start of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Astart start is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, contains, finished-by}. This property is transitive. This property is asymmetric. Figure 14: Temporal entity A starts before the start of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 15: Temporal entity A starts before the start of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity ends before or simultaneously with the start of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Aend ≤ Bstart is true.This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets}.This property is transitive. This property is asymmetric. Figure 16: Temporal entity A ends before or with the start of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 17: Temporal entity A ends before or with the start of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity ends definitely before the start of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Aend start is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to the following Allen temporal relation (Allen, 1983) : {before}.This property is transitive. This property is asymmetric. Figure 18: Temporal entity A ends before the start of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 19: Temporal entity A ends before the start of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity ends before or simultaneously with the end of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Aend ≤ Bend is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, finished by, start, equals, during, finishes}.This property is irreflexive Figure 20: Temporal entity A ends before or with the end of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 21: Temporal entity A ends before or with the end of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity ends definitely before the end of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Aend end is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, starts, during}.This property is transitive. This property is asymmetric. Figure 22: Temporal entity A ends before the end of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 23: Temporal entity A ends before the end of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the S11 Amount of Matter, e.g. a basket, that is preserved (part or total of) from an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit for further examination or evidence keeping.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies an instance of S11 Amount of Matter discarded (e.g. onto a heap) by an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the 3D excavated volume instance of E27 Site, i.e., a three- dimensional volume, that was actually investigated during an A9 Archaeological Excavation.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the instance of A10 Excavation Interface that constitutes the new surface produced during an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit in the excavated area. Frequently this surface or parts of it are documented through drawing and/or measured by technical means such as photography, tachymetry or laser scanning.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit that was cut during an A1 Excavation Processing Unit.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the A3 Stratigraphic Interface that was intended to approximate during an A1 Excavation Processing Unit. This property should be assigned when a stratigraphic excavation methodology is used. It enables the linkage of the surface produced by an A1 Excavation Processing Unit and an A3 Stratigraphic Interface.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit that was produced during an instance of A4 Stratigraphic Genesis Event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies an A8 Stratigraphic Unit that was disturbed through an A5 Stratigraphic Modification. One A5 Stratigraphic Modification may disturb several A8 Stratigraphic Units.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of A4 Stratigraphic Genesis with an instance of S10 Material Substantial, from which matter was incorporated in the instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit produced by this genesis.The instance of A8 Stratigraphic Unit produced by an instance of A4 Stratigraphic Genesis can be documented by using the property AP7 produced (was produced by) and should be distinct from the instance of S10 Material Substantial from which matter was taken. The latter instance will be modified or cease to exist due to this genesis process.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the S22 Segment of Matter that was destroyed through an A1 Excavation Processing Unit. The spatial extent of the instance of S22 Segment of Matter is defined by the extent of the spatial 3-dimensional projection of the A1 Excavation Processing Unit. Depending on the granularity of the documented instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit, different instances of S22 Segment of Matter may be identified by the A10 property.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the physical relationship between two A8 Stratigraphic Units. The described relationship may be between two adjacent instances of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit sharing a common interface (instance of A3 Stratigraphic Interface), between an instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit and one of its adjacent interfaces, such as human-made cuts or earthquake induced faults, or even between two intersecting interfaces.The type of physical relationships found between stratigraphic units in archaeological or geological documentation is documented through the property AP11.1 has type. The type applies to the direction from the domain to the range of the property AP11 has physical relation to (is physically related from). The type of physical relationship typically constitutes strong evidence for the sequence of genesis of the related stratigraphic units, which can be documented by the property AP13 has stratigraphic relation to (is stratigraphically related by). The type may either pertain to a relative topology, such as the one being “under” the other, or to the fine-structure of the interface between them, such as a layer of concrete having filled out earlier micro-cavities in various directions in the interface before solidifying.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies partly or completely the surface (A3 Stratigraphic Interface) of an A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit. One A3 Stratigraphic Interface may confine two or more A2 Stratigraphic Volume Units.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the stratigraphic relation between two A5 Stratigraphic Modification events. This relation may be inferred from the kind of physical relation that exists between the two AP 8 Stratigraphic Units that have been created or modified during the corresponding A5 Stratigraphic Modification events. The type of stratigraphic relationships in archaeological documentation assigned to two A5 Stratigraphic Modification events is documented through the property AP 13.1 has type.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property indicates that an instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit can be the remains of or contain the remains of an instance of S10 Material Substantial.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property indicates an instance of E18 Physical Thing that was assigned by an instance of A6 Group Declaration Event as remains of the target of this instance of A6 Group Declaration Event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of S19 Encounter Event with an instance of A7 Embedding that has been found during this event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the E18 Physical Thing that is contained in an A7 Embedding.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit that contains the A7 Embedding. An Embedding may not extend over more than one instance of A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an E18 Physical Thing that is found within an A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit with the stratigraphic volume unit. AP21 contains (is contained in) is a shortcut for the more detailed path from E18 Physical Thing through AP18i is embedded, A7 Embedding, AP19 is embedding in, A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property symmetrically identifies a situation in which the starting point and the ending point for an instance of E2 Temporal Entity is equal to the starting point and the ending point of another instance of E2 Temporal Entity, respectively.This property is only necessary if the time span is unknown (otherwise the equivalence can be calculated).This property is the same as the "equal" relationship of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).This property is transitive.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a situation in which the ending point of an instance of E2 Temporal Entity is equal to the ending point of another temporal entity of longer duration. There is no causal relationship implied by this property.This property is only necessary if the time span is unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated). This property is the same as the "finishes / finished-by" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).This property is transitive.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a situation in which the starting point for an instance of E2 Temporal Entity is equal to the starting point of another instance of E2 Temporal Entity of longer duration.This property is only necessary if the time span is unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated). This property is the same as the "starts / started-by" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).This property is transitive.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the situation in which the entire temporal extent of an instance of E2 Temporal Entity is within the temporal extent of another instance of E2 Temporal Entity that starts before and ends after the included temporal entity.This property is only necessary if the time span is unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated). This property is the same as the "during / includes" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).This property is transitive.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a situation in which there is an overlap between the temporal extents of two instances of E2 Temporal Entity.It implies a temporal order between the two entities: if A overlaps in time B, then A must start before B, and B must end after A. This property is only necessary if the relevant time spans are unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated).This property is the same as the "overlaps / overlapped-by" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a situation in which one instance of E2 Temporal Entity immediately follows another instance of E2 Temporal Entity.It implies a particular order between the two entities: if A meets in time with B, then A must precede B. This property is only necessary if the relevant time spans are unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated).This property is the same as the "meets / met-by" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic (Allen, 1983, pp. 832-843).
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the relative chronological sequence of two temporal entities.It implies that a temporal gap exists between the end of A and the start of B. This property is only necessary if the relevant time spans are unknown (otherwise the relationship can be calculated).This property is the same as the "before / after" relationships of Allen’s temporal logic(Allen, 1983).This property is transitive.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates a kind of object (documented as an instance of E55 Type) with an instance of E4 Period indicating that objects of this kind have been brought into existence during this period. The genesis of such objects may be the result of human, biological, geological or other processes. This property makes a weak statement about the distribution of the associated object kind in the archaeological record: that is, if the genesis of an object of the type can plausibly be assumed to fall within the genesis of the context within which it was found, then this property supports reasoning, ceteris paribus, that the genesis period of the context forms part of, or overlaps with, one of the instances of E4 Period in which the respective object type has appeared. Such weak statements may also be useful in the context of geological or paleontological observations. Stronger claims can be made using the properties AP30 restricted to and AP31 typical for.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates a kind of object (documented as an instance of E55 Type) with an instance of E4 Period indicating that objects of this kind have been generated exclusively in this period. This property makes a strong statement concerning the distribution of the associated object kind in the observed record: If the genesis of an object of this type can plausibly be assumed to fall within the genesis of the context in which it was found, then the statement made with this property would support reasoning, ceteris paribus, that the genesis period of the find context actually forms part of the related instance of E4 Period, or at least overlaps with it. In contrast, objects from previous periods may appear in a context because they are still in use, and objects from later periods may have been displaced into an older context. Weaker claims can be made using the properties AP29 appears in (gas appearing type) and AP31 typical for (has typical type).
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates a kind of object (documented as an instance of E55 Type) with an instance of E4 Period indicating that objects of this kind have been generated in this period in significantly greater numbers and in wider distributions, than in other periods. This property makes a moderate statement concerning the distribution of the associated object kind in the observed record: If a "sufficient number" of objects of this type are found in a context, and their genesis can plausibly be assumed to fall within the genesis of the find context, then the statement made with this property would support reasoning, ceteris paribus, that the genesis period of the find context is likely to form part of the related instance of E4 Period, or at least overlap with it. “Sufficient number” means that the density of objects of this kind in the find context is compatible with the general density that this kind of object had during the associated period in contexts of a comparable nature and deposition history. A stronger claim can be made using AP30 restricted to (restricts appearance of) while a weaker claim would use AP29 appears in (has appearing type).
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the S11 Amount of Matter (e.g. a heap) into which material from an A1 Excavation Processing Unit is discarded.The same instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit may discard matter into multiple heaps, but also simply throw away the excavated matter without any order or exported to be deposited elsewhere, thereby breaking any close correspondence between the excavation and the deposit.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of S1 Matter Removal with the instance of S10 Material Substantial that this activity diminished. Although an instance of S1 Matter Removal activity normally concerns only one item of S10 Material Substantial, it is possible to imagine circumstances under which more than one item might be diminished by a single Matter Removal activity. An instance S1 Matter Removal activity requires to diminish at least one item of S10 Material Substantial. This may be realized by any of the subproperties of O1 diminished. Therefore the instantiation of a particular subproperty of O1 diminished is not necessary.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of S1 Matter Removal with the instance of S11 Amount of Matter that it has removed.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of S4 Observation with an instance of S15 Observable Entity that was observed. Specifically it describes that a thing, a feature, a phenomenon or its reaction is observed by an activity of Observation.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of S17 Physical Genesis event with an instance of E18 Physical Thing that the event generated.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of S18 Alteration process with an instance of E18 Physical Thing which was altered by this activity.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of E18 Physical Thing with another instance of Physical Thing that forms part of it. The spatial extent of the composing part is included in the spatial extent of the whole.Component elements, since they are themselves instances of E18 Physical Thing, may be further analysed into sub-components, thereby creating a hierarchy of part decomposition. An instance of E18 Physical Thing may be shared between multiple wholes, for example two buildings may share a common wall. This property does not specify when and for how long a component element resided in the respective whole. If a component is not part of a whole from the beginning of existence or until the end of existence of the whole, the classes E79 Part Addition and E90 Part Removal can be used to document when a component became part of a particular whole and/or when it stopped being a part of it. For the time-span of being part of the respective whole, the component is completely contained in the place the whole occupies.This property is intended to describe specific components that are individually documented, rather than general aspects. Overall descriptions of the structure of an instance of E18 Physical Thing are captured by the P3 has note property.The instances of E57 Material of which an instance of E18 Physical Thing is composed should be documented using P45 consists of (is incorporated in).This property is transitive and asymmetric.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property links an instance of E64 End of Existence to the instance of E77 Persistent Item taken out of existence by it.In the case of immaterial things, the instance of E64 End of Existence is considered to take place with the destruction of the last physical carrier.This allows an “end” to be attached to any instance of E77 Persistent Item being documented i.e., instances of E70 Thing, E72 Legal Object, E39 Actor, E41 Appellation and E55 Type. For many instances of E77 Persistent Item we know the maximum life-span and can infer that they must have ended to exist. We assume in that case an instance of E64 End of Existence, which may be as unnoticeable as forgetting the secret knowledge by the last representative of some indigenous nation.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the instance of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing that came into existence as a result of the instance of E12 Production.The identity of an instance of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing is not defined by its matter, but by its existence as a subject of documentation. An E12 Production can result in the creation of multiple instances of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of E13 Attribute Assignment with the instance of E1 CRM Entity about which it made an attribution. The instance of E1 CRM Entity plays the role of the domain of the attribution. The kind of attribution made should be documented using P177 assigned property of type (is type of property assigned).
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity starts before or simultaneously with the end of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity.In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Astart ≤ Bend is true.This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to the disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, met-by, overlaps, starts, started-by, contains, finishes, finished-by, equals, during, overlapped by}.This property is not transitive. Figure 8: Temporal entity A starts before or with the end of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 9: Temporal entity A starts before or with the end of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity starts definitely before the end of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Astart end is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, starts, started-by, contains, finishes, finished-by, equals, during, overlapped by}Typically, this property is a consequence of a known influence of some event on another event or activity, such as a novel written by someone being continued by someone else, or the knowledge of a defeat on a distant battlefield causing people to end their ongoing activities. This property is not transitive. This property is irreflexive. Figure 10: Temporal entity A starts before the end of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 11: Temporal entity A starts before the end of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity starts before or simultaneously with the start of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Astart ≤ Bstart is true.This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, starts, started-by, contains, finished-by, equals}In a model with fuzzy borders, this property will not be transitive.This property is irreflexive. Figure 12: Temporal entity A starts before or with the start of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 13: Temporal entity A starts before or with the start of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity starts definitely before the start of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Astart start is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, contains, finished-by}. This property is transitive. This property is asymmetric. Figure 14: Temporal entity A starts before the start of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 15: Temporal entity A starts before the start of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity ends before or simultaneously with the start of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Aend ≤ Bstart is true.This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets}.This property is transitive. This property is asymmetric. Figure 16: Temporal entity A ends before or with the start of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 17: Temporal entity A ends before or with the start of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity ends definitely before the start of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Aend start is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to the following Allen temporal relation (Allen, 1983) : {before}.This property is transitive. This property is asymmetric. Figure 18: Temporal entity A ends before the start of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 19: Temporal entity A ends before the start of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity ends before or simultaneously with the end of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Aend ≤ Bend is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, finished by, start, equals, during, finishes}.This property is irreflexive Figure 20: Temporal entity A ends before or with the end of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 21: Temporal entity A ends before or with the end of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property specifies that the temporal extent of the domain instance A of E2 Temporal Entity ends definitely before the end of the temporal extent of the range instance B of E2 Temporal Entity. In other words, if A = [Astart, Aend] and B = [Bstart, Bend], we mean Aend end is true. This property is part of the set of temporal primitives P173 – P176, P182 – P185.This property corresponds to a disjunction (logical OR) of the following Allen temporal relations (Allen, 1983): {before, meets, overlaps, starts, during}.This property is transitive. This property is asymmetric. Figure 22: Temporal entity A ends before the end of temporal entity B. Here A is longer than B Figure 23: Temporal entity A ends before the end of temporal entity B. Here A is shorter than B