Stratigraphic Units beyond Archaeological Contexts. A Proposal to Enhance Knowledge Management of Heterogeneous Data of Cultural Heritage Sites

This paper introduces BranCO, an ontology tailored for the integration and reconstruction of heterogeneous cultural data, illustrated through the Brancacci Chapel in Florence. Central to this model is the concept of the ''interpretative unit,'' which broadens the application of stratigraphic units (SU) beyond traditional archaeological use. The initial sections provide an overview of existing research, among which the Extended Matrix, and analyses the implementation of SU within semantic models for cultural heritage, as in the CIDOC-CRM standard and its extensions such as CRMarchaeo. On this basis, the paper outlines the main components of the ontology, developed following the SAMOD methodology. The satisfaction of both formal and rhetorical requirements highlights the potential for advancing this research, particularly to later integrate linked data with semantic nodes in 3D models.