Zbiva has been actively developed since 1987 as an archaeological database for eastern Alps and its surrounding regions in the early Middle Ages. It is focused on the sites in Slovenia, Austria, on the NW Croatian coast, and in the NE regions in Italy. For comparative purposes sporadic sites from the neighboring areas and previous era are recorded. It consists of three parts that constitute a whole:

• archaeological sites
• graves
• artefacts.

The initial v1 was a closed system based on a single PC. The v2 was designed in year 2000 in order to facilitate the transition to the web offering only parts of content, namely sites and bibliography. The current v3 is a full-blown GIS based web application. The entire content of all three parts is accessible and is searchable using full text or structured search and map-based search. The descriptions of individual sites, graves and objects are often supplemented with images.

The web application Zbiva is intended for highly motivated research not only into structured information but also into "hidden" data. The tools available are optimized accordingly. As an additional possibility the service enables the user to temporary upload and analyze any data with spatial component (LAT, LON). This can be done either ad hoc by user or, if so desired, in cooperation with the database administrator the data can be permanently uploaded to Zbiva as an associated collection (for more information see Help).

Zbiva is available in three languages, Slovenian, English and German. However, the free text descriptions are available only in Slovenian and the English speaking users are encouraged to use an online translation of choice.

Zbiva 3.x was created with the support of the FP7 project .

For more detailed description see: Štular, B., The Zbiva Web Application: a tool for Early Medieval archaeology of the Eastern Alps. − In: J. Richards, F. Niccolucci, The Ariadne Impact, Budapest, 2019.

Before you begin

• Zbiva has been designed as a research tool and is as such optimized for use on desktop or notebook computers capable of running any modern internet browser (tested on Safari, Firefox, Chrome and IE). It will run on any device supporting HTML5 browsing (e.g. Android, iOS or Windows Phone based devices) but full functionality on these devices is not guaranteed.
• Terms of service: Zbiva v3 is a research tool without any legal connotations and is offered without any guarantee. It can be freely used for non-commercial purposes under the CC BY-NC-SA license. When results derived from Zbiva are to be published in any way (including presentations) they are to be cited as follows: Zbiva (http://zbiva.zrc-sazu.si/).
• The use of help is encouraged at the latest when you are stuck or you are experiencing oddities.
• The content of Zbiva at your disposal is the content that has been processed to the satisfying degree. Zbiva is being updated approximately twice yearly. Hence, the space and time span of the data is expanding.
• For advanced structured search of artefacts the use of coded plates is advisable (see Utilities below).
• Associated collections are planned in the future. Any archaeological database with spatial component (LAT, LON) without any spatial or chronological limitations is welcomed. Contact administrator.

Citation

Pleterski 2016, Zbiva v3.11 (http://zbiva.zrc-sazu.si/).

Last data update:

5th November 20121

Cited by:

• Carrie Barton, Adam Cox, Sara Delgadillo Cruz and Janet Hansen, Cultural-heritage Inventory Implementations: The Versatility of the Arches System (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26382563)
• Andrea Zerbini, Developing a Heritage Database for the Middle East and North Africa (https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2018.1514722)
• Pacifico Cofrancesco, Consuelo Capolupo, Alessia Frisetti, Mapping Medieval Christianity. CARE-GIS: Reusing Web Digital Data in a webGIS Application (https://doi.org/10.1145/3336125)
• Stefan Eichert, Digital Mapping of Medieval Cemeteries: Case Studies from Austria and Czechia (https://doi.org/10.1145/3406535)

UTILITIES

• Grave and body features (glossary)
• Object features (glossary)
• Forms of kitchenware rims (drawing)
• Head circlets (drawing)
• Types and cross section of beads (drawing)
• Forms of broches (drawing)
• Pleterski A., Korak v kronologijo zgodnjesrednjeveškega naglavnega nakita vzhodnih Alp / A step towards the chronology of early medieval head ornaments in the Eastern Alps, Arheološki vestnik 64, 2013, 299−344.
• Skupine ustij in njihove datacije, 158−160. − V: Pleterski A., Zgodnjesrednjeveška naselbina na blejski Pristavi. Tafonomija, predmeti in čas / Frühmittelalterliche Siedlung Pristava in Bled. Taphonomie, Fundgegenstände und zeitliche Einordnung. − Opera Instituti Archaeologici Sloveniae 19, 2010.

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