Graves Ontology Specification - 0.2

An ontology to markup information on human remains, graves, cemeteries and cenotaphs.

Working Draft — 18 January 2012

This version:

http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ontologies/graves-20120118.html (owl)

Latest version:

http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ontologies/graves.html (owl)

Last Update: 0.2

Date: 16 January 2012

Authors:

Robert Warren, The Muninn Project

Contributors:

Mary Jackes, Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Abstract

This specification defines a set of classes and properties that structure information about human remains.

Status of this Document

This document is a proposal based on some initial discussions at the LODLAM meeting in San Francisco and the email exchanges that followed. It is expected to change around the core of classes that are already in existence.

Comments are welcome at data@muninn-project.org.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   1. Ontology Objectives
   2. Ontology Limitations
2. Graves ontological constructs at a glance
3. Ontology use cases
4. Cross-reference for Graves classes and properties
5. Conclusion and future work

1 Introduction

This project was created as a result of some of the data and modelling problems encountered in the Muninn WW1 Project with respects to the treatment of the remains of soldiers on the battlefield. The Great War was one of the first conflicts where an attempt was made to locate the final resting places of soldiers killed on the battlefield. The scope of the conflict was such that the registration and management of graves and cemeteries required (in the experience of the British Empire) the creation of a commission whose work is still ongoing in 2011.

The modelling of the processes of death, burial, reinterment as well of the erection of various monuments, markers and cenotaph became too complex for simple event-style data structures. Furthermore, a portable ontology unrelated to the original project goals became desirable to develop simple linkages to other projects.

Ontology Objectives

The initial design objectives for the ontology were:

1. The ability to markup simple grave information without excessive overhead.
2. Provide a framework to reference graves, cemeteries and remains within other data-sets.
3. Enable a data provider to explicitly mark grave location information as being obfuscated for privacy reasons, as in the case of an active archaeological dig on private property.
4. Provide an ontological structure that has the necessary hooks for future reasoning.

Ontology Limitations

The Graves ontology has a number of limitations that may not be easily addressable or/and that may not prove to be desirable to fix.

1. The orientation of the remains within a grave is not currently recorded.
2. The location property marks up arbitrary grid systems (as is sometimes used in an archaeological digs) and cemetery grave location keys as a String.
3. Remains can be marked as being partial, where less than the complete skeleton is present within the grave. This deals neatly with mass graves but does not document what was actually found in the grave. A complete forensic description is beyong the scope of this ontology.

2. Graves ontological constructs at a glance

The philosophy of the graves ontology is to provide a basic set of classes that represent most of the information necessary to identify a grave of interest and describe its physical location.

Graves makes use of the OWL ontological markup and has four basic groups of objects: cemeteries and/or archaeological digs, graves, remains (skeletons or ashes) and monuments.

Cemeteries and archaeological digs are the primary location where graves and remains are to be found and the administrative unit that maintains them. Depending on the end application, these classes may be considered subclasses of geographical features, organisations or projects.

A grave is defined as a receptacle for human remains. Subclasses are used for cases of Empty Graves or Mass Graves.

Human remains are classes which deal with full skeletons, the partial remains of a human being (especially in the case of some arch digs) and their ashes after creation.

Lastly, most graves or death are commemorated in some way through the use of a Tombstone or some sort of Monument. In all cases, the ontology supports the description of the mouvement or rearrangement over time.

3. Grave ontology overview

Class, property and relation diagram of the ontology.

3.1. The Graves definitions presented here are:

3.2. Examples

Here is a very basic document describing a grave of an unknown soldier. It uses the geolocation vocabulary to locate the cemetery and the FOAF ontology to point to a picture of the grave.

      <graves:cemetery rdf:About="http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ww1/2011/11/11/location/22">
       <graves:id>22</graves:id> 
       <graves:site_name>Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery</graves:site_name>
       <graves:location>
        <geo:Point>
         <geo:lat>50.375833</geo:lat>
         <geo:long>2.7647</geo:long>
        </geo:Point>
       </graves:location>
       <graves:contains_grave>
        <graves:grave>
         <graves:id>2a88db3f8aeb87c9</graves:id> 
         <graves:location>C6</graves:location>
         <graves:commemorated_by>
          <graves:tombstone>
           <graves:memorial_name>A Canadian Soldier of the Great War</graves:memorial_name>
           <graves:epitaph>Known unto God</graves:epitaph>
           <foaf:depiction
            rdf:resource="http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ww1/2011/11/11/image/12"/>
          </graves:tombstone> 
         </graves:commemorated_by>
         <graves:id>22</graves:id>
         <graves:contains_remains>
          <graves:skeleton>
           <graves:remains_of>
            <!-- Don't know who, use blank node to state this. -->
            <graves:person/>
           </graves:remains_of>
          </graves:skeleton>          
         </graves:contains_remains>
        </graves:grave>
       </graves:has_grave>
      </graves:cemetery>
      

We can also use some creative owl statements to encode more knowledge within the markup. Taking the example of the grave on an unknown soldier, we can restrict the identity of the remains within the grave to one of two soldiers with no known graves. The markup gets rather ugly for large collections of potential people but it lends itself to processing with a reasonner.

      <graves:grave>
       <graves:id>2a88db3f8aeb87c9</graves:id> 
       <graves:location>C6</graves:location>
       <graves:commemorated_by>
        <graves:Tombstone>
         <graves:memorial_name>A Canadian Soldier of the Great War</graves:memorial_name>
         <graves:epitaph>Known unto God</graves:epitaph>
        </graves:Tombstone> 
       </graves:commemorated_by>
       <graves:id>22</graves:id>
       <graves:contains_remains>
        <graves:Skeleton>
         <graves:id>UNKNOWN001</graves:id>
         <graves:remains_of>
          <graves:Person>
           <owl:oneOf>
            <rdf:List>
             <rdf:first>http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ww1/2011/11/11/person/35628</rdf:first>
             <rdf:rest>
             http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ww1/2011/11/11/person/5642754</rdf:first>
             </rdf:rest>
           </rdf:List>
          </owl:oneOf>
         </graves:Person>
        </graves:remains_of>
       </graves:Skeleton>          
      </graves:contains_remains>
     </graves:grave>
    
      

The Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa would look like this and includes the grave of the unknown soldier.

      <graves:cenotaph>
       <owl:sameAs>
       http://dbpedia.org/resource/National_War_Memorial_%28Canada%28
       </owl:sameAs>
       <graves:location>
        <geo:Point>
         <geo:lat>45.424036</geo:lat>
         <geo:long>-75.695497</geo:long>
        </geo:Point>
       </graves:location>
       <graves:monument_name xml:lang="en">National War Memorial</graves:monument_name>
       <graves:monument_name xml:lang="fr">Monument commémoratif de guerre du Canada</graves:monument_name>
       <graves:epitaph></graves:epitaph>
       <graves:commemorates>
        <graves:Sarcophagus>
         <graves:contains_remains>
          <graves:Skeleton>
           <graves:remains_of>
            <graves:Person/>
           </graves:remains_of>
          </graves:Skeleton>  
         </graves:contains_remains>
        </graves:Sarcophagus>              
       </graves:commemorates>
       <graves:commemorates>
        <foaf:Group>
         <foaf:name>Canadian War Veterans<foaf:name>
        </foaf:Group>
       </graves:commemorates>         
      </graves:cenotaph>
      

A simple grave in the forest by itself, we known the name of the person as stated on the grave, but don't provide a Person instance for them.

      <graves:Grave> 
       <graves:location>The Green Forest</graves:location>
       <graves:commemorated_by>
         <graves:Tombstone>
          <graves:memorial_name>John Doe</graves:memorial_name>
          <graves:epitaph>Requiem Innes Patches</graves:epitaph>
         </graves:Tombstone>
        </graves:commemorated_by>  
        <graves:contains_remains> 
        <graves:Skeleton/>
       </graves:contains_remains>        
      </graves:Grave>
    

Cross-referencing Graves across datasets and knowledge repositories

The power of linked open data lies in the ability to cross-reference both classes and instances across RDF fragments across the internet. This means that you can leaverage the work done by other people in creating your own knowledge base.

Taking our previous example of a grave in the Green Forest, let's assume that a cemetary exists and is described by another rdf instance at another host, you can reuse their instances by referencing it:

      <graves:Grave> 
       <graves:grave_in>
       <graves:Cemetery rdf:about="https://example.com/cemetary#the_green_forest"/>
       </graves:grave_in>
       <graves:location>The Green Forest</graves:location>
       <graves:commemorated_by>
         <graves:Tombstone>
          <graves:memorial_name>John Doe</graves:memorial_name>
          <graves:epitaph>Requiem Innes Patches</graves:epitaph>
         </graves:Tombstone>
        </graves:commemorated_by>  
        <graves:contains_remains> 
        <graves:Skeleton/>
       </graves:contains_remains>        
      </graves:Grave>
    

4. Cross-reference for Graves classes and properties

       <graves:plaque>
        <dc:date>1918</dc:date>
        <foaf:depiction rdf:resource="http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ww1/2011/11/11/image/14"/>
        <graves:location>
         <geo:Point>
          <geo:lat>44.636214</geo:lat>
          <geo:long>-63.593207</geo:long>
         </geo:Point>
        </graves:location>
        <graves:memorial_name xml:lang="en">Cambridge War Memorial</graves:memorial_name>
        <graves:epitaph> </graves:epitaph>
        <graves:commemorates>
         <foaf:Group>
          <foaf:name>Dalhousie students that died in the Great War<foaf:name>
          <foaf:member>
           <foaf:Person>
            <foaf:familyName>Carson</foaf:familyName>
            <foaf:givenName>John</foaf:givenName>
           </foaf:Person>
          </foaf:member>
          <foaf:member>
           <foaf:Person>
            <foaf:familyName>Grierson</foaf:familyName>
            <foaf:givenName>Vernonlt;/foaf:givenName>
           </foaf:Person>
          </foaf:member>
          <foaf:member>
           <foaf:Person>
            <foaf:familyName>Hyde</foaf:familyName>
            <foaf:givenName>Cyrilt;/foaf:givenName>
           </foaf:Person>
          </foaf:member>
          <foaf:member>
           <foaf:Person>
            <foaf:familyName>Moseley</foaf:familyName>
            <foaf:givenName>Henry;/foaf:givenName>
           </foaf:Person>
          </foaf:member>
         </foaf:Group>
        </graves:commemorates>
        <graves:epitaph>in proud remembrance of our classmates who gave their lives in the great war 1914 - 1918 Their name liveth for evermore</graves:epitaph>
       </graves:plaque>
      

       <graves:statue>
        <dc:date>1922</dc:date>
        <graves:monument_title>The Homecoming</graves:monument_title>
        <foaf:depiction rdf:resource="http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ww1/2011/11/11/image/16"/>
        <foaf:depicts>
         <foaf:Person>
          <foaf:familyName>Hamilton</foaf:familyName>
          <foaf:givenName>Kenneth</foaf:givenName>
         </foaf:Person>         
        </foaf:depicts> 
        <!--The use of the depicts and depiction properties in this manner  
could possibly confuse a reasoner? -->
        <graves:location>
         <geo:Point>
          <geo:lat>52.195005</geo:lat>
          <geo:long>0.131273</geo:long>
         </geo:Point>
        </graves:location>
        <graves:memorial_name xml:lang="en">Cambridge War Memorial</graves:memorial_name>
        <graves:epitaph>to the men of cambridgeshire. the isle of ely. the borough and university of cambridge who served in the great war 1914-1919 and in the world war 1939-1945 </graves:epitaph>
        <graves:commemorates>
         <foaf:Group>
          <foaf:name>Cambridgeshire Area War Veterans of the Great War<foaf:name>
         </foaf:Group>
        </graves:commemorates>
       </graves:statue>
      

       <graves:cenotaph>
        <graves:memorial_name xml:lang="en">Cambridge War Memorial</graves:memorial_name>
        <graves:epitaph>In remembrance of our fellow workers that fell in the Great War and in the Second World War</graves:epitaph>
        <graves:commemorates>
         <foaf:Group>
          <foaf:name>Cambridge Gas Works Employees<foaf:name>
         </foaf:Group>      
        </graves:commemorates>
        <graves:location>
         <geo:Point>
          <geo:lat>52.209986</geo:lat>
          <geo:long>0.144213</geo:long>
         </geo:Point>
        </graves:location>
       </graves:cenotaph>

      <graves:grave>
       <owl:sameAs> 
       http://dbpedia.org/resource/National_War_Memorial_%28Canada%28
       <owl:sameAs>
       <graves:location>
        <geo:Point>
         <geo:lat>45.424036</geo:lat>
         <geo:long>-75.695497</geo:long>
        </geo:Point>
       </graves:location>
       <graves:cenotaph>
        <graves:memorial_name xml:lang="en">National War Memorial</graves:memorial_name>
        <graves:memorial_name xml:lang="fr">Monument commemoratif de guerre du Canada</graves:memorial_name>
        <graves:epitaph></graves:epitaph>
       </graves:tombstone> 
       <graves:skeleton>
        <graves:moved_from>
         <graves:when>Oct 21, 2011<graves:when>
         <graves:remains>
         <graves:grave>         
          <graves:location>Plot 8, Row E, Grave 7</graves:location>
          <graves:cemetery rdf:About="http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ww1/2011/11/11/location/22">
           <graves:site_name>Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery</graves:site_name>
            <graves:location>
             <geo:Point>
              <geo:lat>50.375833</geo:lat>
              <geo:long>2.7647</geo:long>
             </geo:Point>
            </graves:location>
           </graves:cemetery>
          </graves:grave>
         </graves:remains>
        </graves:moved_from>
       </graves:skeleton>
       </graves:cenotaph>
      </graves:grave>
      

 <rdf:RDF>
  <museum:artifact>
   <dc:title>Partial skeleton of an adult male.<dc:title>
   <dc:reference>FD344-34459-32</dc:reference>
   <dc:date>
    <time:before>
     <time:instant><time:year>-3500<time:year></time:instant>
    </time:before>
   </dc:date>
   <graves:partial_remains>
    <graves:grave>
     <graves:dig_site>
      <graves:location>
       <gn:Feature rdf:about="http://sws.geonames.org/6118186/"/>
       </graves:obfuscated>
      </graves:location>
     </graves:dig_site>     
    </graves:grave>
   </graves:partial_remains>
  </museum:artifact>
 </rdf:RDF>
  

  <graves:dig_site>
   <graves:site_name>Red River </graves:site_name>
   <graves:location>
    <gn:Feature rdf:about="http://sws.geonames.org/6118186/"/>
    <graves:obfuscated/>
   </graves:location>
   <graves:contains_grave>
    <graves:grave>
    .....
    </graves:grave>   
   </graves:contains_grave>
  </graves:dig_site>
 

  <graves:grave>
   <graves:grave_id>2a88db3f8aeb87c9</graves:grave_id> 
   <graves:location>France</graves:location>
   <graves:contains_remains>
    <graves:human_remains>
     <graves:person rdf:about="http://rdf.muninn-project.org/ww1/2011/11/11/person/35628"/>
    </graves:human_remains>          
   </graves:contains_remains>
  </graves:grave>
 

Conclusion and Future Work

The graves ontology is an initial attempt at documenting graves and sites containing human remains. Please feel free to email comments and concerns.

Version History

• 0.1 - Initial unstable release.
• 0.2 - Fixed both mass-graves and empty-graves properties by making them sub-classes.
• - Added crypt class.
• - Removed represents property.
• - Added moved_from Object Property.
• - Fixed inverse properties.

TODO

• Explain ontology consistency checking.
• Add funeral urns, storage boxes and body bags?
• Figure out dbpedia instance equivalence grammars for classes.