Vers la mise en réseau des données et des chercheurs : le système d'information de la prospection d'Itanos (Crète orientale)

International audienceAs part of the archaeological research program conducted in Itanos since 1994, an archaeological survey was carried out on a substantial portion (about 20 sq. km) of the territory of the ancient city. The area surrounding Itanos offers an exceptional site that has not been occupied by any important human settlement since the Middle Ages. It thus appears as a fossilized map of the ancient occupation and presents an exceptional case in the history of the Cretan landscape. During the past few years, archaeologists have collected a huge quantity of information, that will now be presented to the scholarly community. All data have been organized in a database that is fully compatible with a GIS system. Since 2006 this searchable database offering the records of the survey has been made available online on the website of the French School of Archaeology. It is the intent of this article to present the heuristic and technical principles which lie at the basis of the project. Moreover, a GIS platform, offering a digital elevation model and a chronological distribution of all the archaeological sites surveyed, has recently been accessible on the website of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies. This GIS platform will be continually augmented by additional data and will eventually offer a powerful interpretive tool to archaeologists, which will integrate the physical conditions of the landscape which are at the core of historical explanation