This massive volume, the proceedings of an international conference in Verona in 2005, reasseses the work of S.A. Semonov, the Soviet archaeologist and pioneer of the functional analysis. The papers demonstrate both the ways in which Semonov's theories have been developed in the forty years since the publication in English of his seminal work Prehistoric Technology, and the wide range of applications for which they have been used. In particular they offer insights into current practice in Russian archaeology.

Mul'timedia, v ego prosteyshem ponimanii, vsegda prisutstvovala v muzee v vide soedineniya vizual'noy, predstavlennoy predmetom, i verbal'noy, predstavlennoy soprovoditel'nym tekstom, informatsii. Vo vtoroy polovine KhKh veka proiskhodilo postepennoe uvelichenie kolichestva mul'timedia v muzeynoy kommunikatsii za schet vvedeniya audio-, kino-, videomaterialov, a takzhe razlichnogo interaktiva v tselyakh naibolee effektivnoy peredachi informatsii posetitelyu. S razvitiem informatsionnykh tekhnologiy v muzeyakh stali poyavlyat'sya komp'yuterizirovannye mul'timedia sistemy, kotorye pozvolili na bolee vysokom tekhnicheskom i tekhnologicheskom urovne organizovat' soprovozhdenie, raz"yasnenie i interpretatsiyu muzeynogo soderzhaniya. Ispol'zovaniyu komp'yuternykh mul'timedia sistem vo vzaimodeystvii muzeya i posetitelya i posvyashcheno dannoe issledovanie. Avtorom vyyavleno mesto mul'timedia v sisteme muzeynoy kommunikatsii, rassmotreny razlichnye varianty primeneniya mul'timedia tekhnologii vo vnutrennem - ekspozitsiya, muzeynye tsentry, - i vneshnem - elektronnye publikatsii - vzaimodeystvii muzeya s posetitelem, predstavleno sovremennoe sostoyanie dannoy sfery v belorusskikh muzeyakh.