Repository

The repository provides material created in or related to the DPP-project. This includes papers written within the project or with a strong connection to it regarding content or methodology, visual examples of digital tools (OpenAtlas database, GIS-visualisation, network analysis etc.) and data sets (including shapefiles and other GIS-suitable format as well as geographical or quantitative data). Thereby an overview on the methodological approaches and first results of DPP are presented. Equally, DPP commits itself to the principles of open-source and open-data as established within the framework of the CLARIAH-network within the European Union.

For the data acquisition DPP uses the open-source Database System OpenAtlas (openatlas.eu). It stores its information based on the CIDOC-CRM (www.cidoc-crm.org) and therefore is from a conceptual point of view highly compatible and sustainable on an international level. Regarding the technological framework the data is primarily stored in a PostgreSQL and PostGIS database and fulfils state of the art technical standards. Whenever records can be spatially located (E.g. the location of a physical thing or, for example, the site where an event took place) they are geo-referenced. Next to the coordinates of locations also other geometries are stored. They can be for example polygons that mark the area of a certain settlement or polylines that represent roads etc. They and can be accessed, displayed or edited with every GIS-Software that supports PostGIS or other common standards like WKT or Geojson.

OpenAtlas links all the interconnections between the stored entities. For instance it is possible to map (in a conceptual as well as geographical meaning) the places where e.g. King Arnulf of Carinthia was present during his reign and for which reasons he was there and which role he played in the respective events. If for example a donation of a manor located in Carinthia is carried out at the court in Regensburg/Ratisbona you can connect the King to the place where this happened and also to the place that gets donated as well as to other involved actors like the new owner and the witnesses, too. Next to this the sources that refer to these events are also interconnected as well as temporal information on when the recorded events occurred. Also files (images, documents) and external references (e.g. Wikipedia entries) can be recorded and linked.


After the project’s data acquisition is finished, the gathered information will be provided as open-data in various formats. The primary data will be available for download and an endpoint for linked open data will be provided. The intention is to use these data for further analyses and visualisations mainly aiming at GIS- and network analyses.

The software developed within the project will be released as open-source tools and we hope it can prove useful for others too.

The projects website will furthermore host an online application to search, query, export, browse and visualize the data via a geographical map interface (see Geocommunication). There the data can be explored easily without other technical tools and without downloading anything. Any comments and suggestions on these examples of our work are highly welcome.


OpenAtlas database Schema (S. Eichert, A. Watzinger, 2018)
Date Location Author Title Page Download
2019 Leipzig Mihailo Popović The Digital Cluster Project “Digitising Patterns of Power (DPP)”: Uniting History, Archaeology, Geography and Cartography with Tools from Digital Humanities, In: Mihailo St. Popović, Veronika Polloczek, Bernhard Koschicek, and Stefan Eichert (Eds.),Power in Landscape. Geographic and Digital Approaches on Historical Research. IX-XXII
2019 Leipzig Mihailo Popović, Rainer Simon Illustrating Workflows in Digital Humanities: Byzantine Macedonia in the 13th/14th Centuries and Its “Transformation” from Analogue to Digital, in: Power in Landscape – Geographic and Digital Approaches on Historical Research. 65-87
2018 Krems Mihailo Popović, Vratislav Zervan Signs and Maps of Power in Medieval Europe: A Case Study on Byzantine Macedonia (13th/14th Centuries), MEMO – Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture Online: MEMO # 2 – Digital Humanities & Materielle Kultur Paper
2015 Belgrade Mihailo Popović Die Topographie der mittelalterlichen Stadt Skopje zwischen Byzantinischem und Serbischem Reich (13.–14. Jh.). Initial, A Review of Medieval Studies 3 35-55 Paper
2016 Belgrade Mihailo Popović The “Medieval Serbian Oecumene” – Fiction or Reality?, in: Byzantine Heritage and Serbian Art I. Process of Byzantinisation and Serbian Archaeology, ed. Vesna Bikić. 37-43 Paper
2019 Leipzig Stefan Eichert, Jiri Macháček, Nina Brundke Frontier – Contact Zone – No Man‘s Land. The Morava – Thaya region during the Early Middle Ages. In: Mihailo St. Popović, Veronika Polloczek, Bernhard Koschicek, and Stefan Eichert (eds.), Power in Landscape – Geographic and Digital Approaches on Historical Research 45-64
2018 Krems Stefan Eichert, Mihailo Popović, Bernhard Koschicek Digitising Patterns of Power (DPP) – Fallstudien zur digitalen Aufnahme, Verwaltung, Analyse und Präsentation archäologischer und historischer Daten. MEMO – Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture Online 2 (2018): Digital Humanities & Materielle Kultur. Pdf-Format, DOI: 10.25536/2523-2932022018. 33-57 Paper
2017 Cracow Nina Brundke, Stefan Eichert, Christina Cheung, Michael Richards Die Arpadenzeitlichen Bestattungen des Oberleiserbergs (Niederösterreich). Erste Ergebnisse der Interdisziplinären Analyse. Acta Archaeologica Carpathica 52 169-207 Paper
2016 Wien Stefan Eichert, Ronny Weßling Möglichkeiten der digitalen Dokumentation und Präsentation am Beispiel frühmittelalterlicher Buntmetallfunde aus der March-Thaya Grenzregion. Archäologie Österreichs 26/2 29-34 Paper
2018 Berlin, Boston Johannes Preiser-Kapeller Central Peripheries. Empires and Elites across Byzantine and Arab Frontiers in Comparison (700–900 CE), in: Die Interaktion von Herrschern und Elitengruppen in imperialen Ordnungen des Mittelalters, ed. W. Drews 91-113
2019 Leipzig Johannes Preiser-Kapeller Small Kingdoms in a Big World: Patterns of Power in Early Medieval Southern Armenia, In: Mihailo St. Popović, Veronika Polloczek, Bernhard Koschicek, and Stefan Eichert (Eds.),Power in Landscape. Geographic and Digital Approaches on Historical Research. 107-119
2019 Mainz Johannes Preiser-Kapeller From one edge of the (post)Sasanian world to the other. Mobility and migration between the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Persian Gulf in the 4th to 9th centuries CE, in: Sasanian Elements in Byzantine, Caucasian and Islamic Art and Culture, ed. N. Asutay-Effenberger, F. Daim 10-22
2019 Salzburg Markus Breier, Adam Mertel, Karel Kriz, Alexander Pucher, Digitising Patterns of Power – an Interactive Map-based Representation of Historical Landscapes. In: Ernst M., Hinkelmanns P., Zangerl L. M., Zeppezauer-Wachauer K. (eds.), Proceedings of the Digital Humanities Austria 2018, Salzburg, Austria, 29 November – 1 December 2018
2019 Leipzig Markus Breier Representing Spatial Uncertainty of Historical Places and Space in Interactive Maps. In: Mihailo St. Popović, Veronika Polloczek, Bernhard Koschicek, and Stefan Eichert (eds.), Power in Landscape – Geographic and Digital Approaches on Historical Research 165 – 180
2019 Leipzig David Schmid, Markus Breier GIS and Historical Research. In: Mihailo St. Popović, Veronika Polloczek, Bernhard Koschicek, and Stefan Eichert (eds.), Power in Landscape – Geographic and Digital Approaches on Historical Research 205 – 214
2017 Vienna, Novi Sad Mihailo Popović, David Schmid, Markus Breier From the Via Egnatia to Prilep, Bitola and Ohrid: a Medieval Raod Map based on Written Sources, Archaeological Remains and GIScience. In: Andreas Külzer, Mihailo St. Popović (eds.), Space, Landscapes and Settlements in Byzantium: Studies in Historical Geography of the Eastern Mediterranean. 289-317, 511-518 Paper
2019 Leipzig Alexander Watzinger OpenAtlas - How to Grow Software for Historians. In: Mihailo St. Popović, Veronika Polloczek, Bernhard Koschicek, and Stefan Eichert (Eds.),Power in Landscape. Geographic and Digital Approaches on Historical Research. 193-201
2018 Karel Kriz, Alexander Pucher, Markus Breier Digitizing Patterns of Power – Cartographic Communication for Digital Humanities. Proc. Int. Cartogr. Assoc., 1, 62, (https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-proc-1-62-2018), 2018. 1-5 Paper
2018 Vienna Mihailo Popović, Veronika Polloczek, Bernhard Koschicek Landkarten der Macht 50–51 Paper
2018 Cologne-Weimar-Vienna Mihailo Popović Jahrmärkte im europäischen Teil des Byzantinischen Reiches und deren neuzeitliches Nachleben, in: Europäische Messegeschichte 9.–19. Jahrhundert, ed. M. A. Denzel. 43–53
2017 Vienna Mihailo Popović Vlachen in der historischen Landschaft Mazedonien im Spätmittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit, in: Walchen , Romani und Latini. Variationen einer nachrömischen Gruppenbezeichnung zwischen Britannien und dem Balkan, ed. W. Pohl, I. Hartl, W. Haubrichs (Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 21) 183-196
2017 Paris Mihailo Popović Les Balkans: routes, foires et pastoralisme au XIe siècle, in: Autour du Premier humanisme byzantin & des Cinq études sur le XIe siècle, quarante ans après Paul Lemerle, ed. B. Flusin, J.-CL. Cheynet (Travaux et Mémoires 21/2) 665–674
2017 Klagenfurt Stefan Eichert Der frühmittelalterliche Ostalpenraum und die mediterrane Welt. Zur Rezeption mediterraner Vorbilder für die Motivik frühmittelalterlicher Emailscheibenfibeln. In: Dörfler, I., Gleirscher, P., Ladstätter, S., Pucker, I. (Eds.), AD AMUSSIM Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Franz Glaser 301-323
2017 Mariapfarr Stefan Eichert Der Lungau im Frühmittelalter aus archäologischer Sicht. In: Klammer, P., Rumschöttel, H. (Eds.), Mauterndorf 83-92
2017 Gainesville Stefan Eichert Ethnic Identity, National Consciousness and Archaeology The Case Study of Carinthia/Austria. In: Natascha Mehler and Alisdair Brooks (Eds.), The Country Where My Heart Is Historical Archaeologies of Nationalism and National Identity. University Press of Florida 95-118
2017 Nitra Stefan Eichert ‘Great Men’, ‘Big Men’ and ‘Chiefs’ in Carantania? On the Formation of Elites and Leadership/Rulership in the Eastern Alps During the Early Middle Ages. In: Gabor Fusek (Ed.), Archäologische Studien zum frühen Mittelalter. Monographiae. Communicationes XIX 15-26
2017 Mária Hajnalová, Stefan Eichert, Jakub Tamaškovič, Nina Brundke, Judith Benedix Noémi Beljak Pažinová and Dominik Repka, Hic sunt Leones? The Morava Valley Region During the Early Medieval Ages: The Bilateral Mobility Project between Slowakia and Austria. IANSA VIII 99-104
2017 Vienna Adéla Balcárková, David Kalhous, Stefan Eichert Zur Entwicklung der Grenze im mährisch-österreichischen Grenzgebiet während des 11.–12. Jahrhunderts und zur Rolle der Befestigung von Nikolsburg/Mikulov. Beiträge zur Mittelalterarchäologie in Österreich 32/2016 37-72
2017 Halle Johannes Preiser-Kapeller Complex processes of migration: the south Caucasus in the early Islamic Empire (7th–10th century AD), in: H. Mehler et al. (eds.), Migration und Integration von der Urgeschichte bis zum Mittelalter 295-313 Paper
2017 Vienna Mihailo Popović, Veronika Polloczek Digitising Patterns of Power (DPP): Applying Digital Tools in the Analysis of Political and Social Transformations in the Historical Region of Macedonia, 12th–14th Centuries. medieval worlds: comparative & interdisciplinary studies 5 170-194 Paper
2016 Cracow Mihailo Popović, Stefan Eichert, Bernhard Koschicek Digitising Patterns of Power (DPP): A Digital Approach towards Recording, Managing, Analysing and Presenting Archeological and Historical Information based on Case Studies from Eurasian Mountainous Regions, Acta Archaeologica Carpathica 51 257-283 Paper
2016 Vienna Mihailo Popović Raumordnung und Stadtgestalt in den Städten auf der Balkanhalbinsel in der spätbyzantinischen Zeit, in: Städte im lateinischen Westen und im griechischen Osten zwischen Spätantike und Früher Neuzeit. Topographie – Recht – Religion, ed. Elisabeth Gruber, Mihailo Popović, Martin Scheutz, Herwig Weigl (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 66) 79-95 Content
2015 Belgrade Mihailo Popović Das Kloster Hilandar und seine Weidewirtschaft in der historischen Landschaft Mazedonien im 14. Jahrhundert, in: ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΟΣ – Mélanges offerts à Mirjana Živojinović, Tome I 215–225 Paper
2015 Sofia Mihailo Popović Das Herrschaftsgebiet des Zaren Samuel im Mittelalter und dessen Erforschung zwischen 1890 und 1918, in: Proceedings Evropejskijat jugoiztok prez vtorata polovina na X – načaloto na XI vek. Istorija i kultura. Meždunarodna konferencija, Sofija, 6–8 oktomvri 2014 277–298 Paper
2013 Vienna Stefan Eichert OpenAtlas - An Open Source Database Application for Archaeological, Historical, and Spatial Data. in: Museen der Stadt Wien – Stadtarchäologie (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies 2013, CHNT 18 Paper
2012 Sofia Mihailo Popović Are the Historical Geography of the Byzantine Empire and Digital Humanities a Contradiction Per Se? Bulgaria Mediaevalis 3 255-269 Paper

Date Type Link
- Webapplication Work in progress. Source available at Digitising Patterns of Power on GitHub.


Application Example (A. Watzinger, 2016)

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