[First Posted in AWOL 16 November 2013, updated 12 July 2018]
Portal to the Past: Digital Archive of Archaeological Projects and Research Canadian Institute in Greece
Portal to the Past: Digital Archive of Archaeological Projects and Research Canadian Institute in Greece
A generous grant from Thracean Gold Mining, S.A., a subsidiary of the Eldorado Gold Corporation (Vancouver), has enabled the Institute to undertake the creation of an interactive website, “Portal to the Past” (or Portal) that highlights the archaeological work of the Canadian Institute in Greece (CIG) since 1980. The Ambassador of Canada to the Hellenic Republic, Robert W. Peck, was instrumental in creating this opportunity for CIG. This new website is designed to provide a wide audience in Canada and beyond with access to the fieldwork, the finds and the results of the archaeological and scientific research carried out under the auspices of the Canadian Institute in Greece with permits from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Cultural organizations around the world for the past decade or so have created similar online portals to make their collections accessible to the public.
Each CIG's 18 archaeological projects since 1980 have a representative sample of the imagery and information related to its research in the Portal. The information and imagery in the website is fully searchable, by project, site, find, image, institution, researcher, research expertise and other criteria. In making this available online, both the projects and the Institute will receive a broader recognition of the significant work that they have carried out in the past four decades throughout Greece in elucidating the rich cultural heritage of the country. These discoveries span from the Mesolithic period (ca 9th millennium BCE) to the 20th century CE. One can search each component for specific information.
After each field season the current project’s entries and image collection in the Portal will be updated. New projects will be added as they are approved and conduct their field work. Additional materials will be added to older projects as they become available.
In addition to the archaeological projects the Portal includes imagery and information related to the Frederick E. Winter B/W Negative Collection. The late Professor Winter (University of Toronto) donated to the Archives of the Institute his collection of B/W negatives with contact sheets that he took during a long career focused on the study of Greek and Roman defensive architecture and Hellenistic buildings. This imagery covers Greece, Turkey and Italy from 1956 to 1986.
The CIG Portal to the Past is one component of the Institute’s ongoing efforts to preserve, to organize, to store properly and to make accessible the archives of the Institute as an institution and of the archives of the archaeological projects which have held permits under the aegis of the Institute.
