Il sistema T.Arc.H.N.A. : per una nuova accessibilità al patrimonio culturale

This paper presents the preliminary results of the Project T.Arc.H.N.A., Towards Archaeological Heritage New Accessibility, partially funded by the European Union, as part of the Culture 2000 Programme. Tarchna is the Etruscan name of the ancient city of Tarquinia and T.Arc.H.N.A. the name of a model of virtual Museum. Thanks to the use of modern technology, combined with a deep knowledge of history and archaeology, it has been possible to create a tool useful for both scholars and the wider public, which is also available for other situations. Through the cooperation of experts from two different fields – Computer Science and Archaeology – an innovative system of accessibility to the Cultural Heritage in the field of research, education and dissemination has been designed and implemented. One of the first results of the project is the restoration of the original unity of the Tarquinian Heritage much of which is scattered all over the world, lacking in contexts and anthropological meanings. Scholars are thus enabled to deal with this Cultural Heritage as a whole and to bring the single document from the environment that produced it, to the environment of the modern user, thus filling the gap between the document and its interpretation. In this way the public can learn the main features of the Etruscan culture and comprehend the research of scholars.