L'instrumentum inscriptum non seriale. Potenziale informativo e varietà di approcci alla sua informatizzazione

Since the times of Heinrich Dressel, the importance of inscribed instrumentum domesticum for our knowledge of ancient economy has been recognized. But most of modern studies about the process of production and distribution of goods in the Roman world are based on stamps (on amphoras, lamps, bricks and so on) and other kinds of “standard”, repeated information (like graffiti and tituli picti inscribed on different part of amphoras). In this kind of documentation, the information potential lays above all on the massive quantity of material at our disposal, in different part of the Roman Empire, attesting the routes of commerce and the different roles of people involved in it. But an unexpected amount and variety of information about the economic history of Rome can be drawn also from “non stamped” and “non massive” instrumentum, including different kinds of small inscribed objects, like, for example, signacula, tesserae, tabellae immunitatis, slave collars, weights and other measures. Short texts, with a large use of abbreviations, often inscribed on objects whose archarological origin is unknown, can become useful and informative for the historical research only if we are able to make them “speak”, putting them in relationship with other texts and information, that can restore their historical and geographic context. Only in this way, small inscribed objects can throw light not only on the every day life of ancient Romans but also on their economic activities. And this aspect must be taken into account also in the process of digitization of this kind of inscriptions that is currently on the way in the framework of different projects: a digital archive including “non stamped” instrumentum should not only consider the particular nature of both texts and artefacts, but also make eident their contacts with other materials and sources through prosopographic and topographic links. Aim of this paper is to analyse the state of the art in this field, with a special attention for the project EDR (Epigraphic Database Roma).