Towards a history of archaeological computing

The international research project on the history of archaeological computing, conducted in cooperation with the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and the Italian National Research Council, was designed to investigate some methodological aspects associated with the introduction and development of computer applications in archaeology. The project is subdivided into two parts, one based on a systematic data collection, mostly carried out in Italian and foreign Archives and Libraries, and the other addressing the construction of a communication tool, i.e. the Virtual Museum of Archaeological Computing. By retracing the unfolding of international scientific events occurring in the first two decades of the second half of the 20th century and the lives of the scholars who promoted them - in particular Jean-Claude Gardin - the paper illustrates the methodological renewal process, which gave birth to the convergence of the so-called 'two cultures', opening new directions in archaeological research thanks to the integration of objectives and tools inherited from different disciplines.