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This documentation covers an RDF ontology for data from research on collections of human skeletons. It serves as a formalised data standard, but can also be implemented as a database model in software dedicated to standardised data collection, like the web application developed alongside the ontology as a proof of concept.
Our ontology covers data related to research on skeletal collections:
- skeletal anatomy
- bio-anthropological methodology
- areas of research in physical anthropology
- provenance of material (geographical, acquisition)
- dating of material
- archival information
- information on research projects and researchers and institutions involved in them
Our ontology was created during a DFG-funded research project from 2014 to 2017 and integrates several existing ontologies, covering various domains:
- Bibliographic Ontology (BIBO)
- CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC CRM)
- GeoNames Ontology (GeoNames)
- Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI)
- VIVO Ontology for Researcher Discovery (VIVO)
These were combined to describe research data and their creation in biological anthropology.
We are currently (September 2018) applying for funding for a continuative project, implementing a real use case with RDFBones. We plan to formally release RDFBones once it's practical application is secured. Please contact the maintainers of this repository if you want to use RDFBones for your research.
This documentation of our ontology is composed of the following parts:
- We discuss basic concepts in the construction of the ontology. This sections provides an overview and serves as an introduction.
- Background information on selected mechanisms from other ontologies that have guided the design of our ontology.
- A list of the prefixes and namespaces of other ontologies from which we incorporate elements into our own.
