Archival space
Introduction
The term archive (from the Latin archīvum, and this from the Greek αρχεīον) can refer to what is commonly known as an "institution responsible for the custody, treatment, inventory and conservation of documents" in different media, "as well as making copies of these available to users."[1].
Also, by metonymy, this is the name given to the building or premises where the documents generated and/or received by an entity as a consequence of carrying out its activities are preserved and guarded.[1] The name can also refer to the container (a room, a drawer, or a closet) whose function is to also preserve and guard such documents.
However, the concept also refers to the "set of documents that a natural person", or legal entity, has gathered during the exercise of its activity.
In short, as a polysemous word, it can refer to:.
Archival science is the science that deals with the techniques applied to archives.
The function of archives is to be sources for history and memory, and to guarantee the exercise of rights.[2].
History
Currently, official repositories of public and private documents are called archives. In other times, they were called chartarium, scrinium, tabulárium. Their existence is recorded in Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Rome and from some texts of the Holy Scriptures it is inferred that they also existed in the people of Israel. As a general rule, with the exception of the palatial Assyrians and Persians, the archives of ancient civilizations were found in the precincts of the temples. In Rome, the treaties of peace and alliance were preserved in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus "Jupiter (mythology)"). The annals of the pontiffs in that of Juno, the records of births in that of Saturn.
The practice of preserving official documents is very old. Archaeologists have discovered archives of hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of clay tablets dating back to the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. C. in sites such as Ebla, Mari"), Amarna, Hattusas, Ugarit and Pylos. These discoveries have been fundamental to understanding the alphabets, languages, literature and politics of Antiquity.
Archives were well developed by the ancient Chinese, the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans (who called them Tabularia). However, those archives have been lost, as documents written on materials such as papyrus and paper deteriorated relatively quickly, unlike their counterparts on clay tablets. The archives of churches, kingdoms and cities from the Middle Ages survive and have often maintained their official character uninterrupted to the present day. They are the basic tool for historical research about this period.[3].