Comprendere e valorizzare il dato cronologico: dalle problematiche del progetto R.I.M.E.M. al progetto Datando

This paper presents a new python library for managing date and time variables, named Datando. Datando can manage datetime variables in a range of +/- 5,000,000,000 years, with a precision of 10-6 seconds. With such a range and precision, Datando can be used by historians, archaeologists, physicians, and geologists. Datando allows to convert date/time variables between different formats, to execute operations on these variables, to define time intervals and to execute operations on time intervals, as testing for equality or overlappings, also using a fuzzy approach. The Datando library has carried out in the framework of the R.I.M.E.M. project (Ricerche Sugli Insediamenti Medievali dell’Entroterra delle Marche, Researches on the Medieval Settlements in the Inland of the Marche Region, Italy), leaded by the University of Macerata. This project requires the recording of all available data about medieval settlements (archaeological, historical and documental information), and the Datando library is used to manage and compare the cronologies of all these kinds of records.