Archaeology Data Service: Homepage

EXP-
LORE

Archsearch has over one million records

DISC-
OVER

Archived data, text, images, documents

DEP-
OSIT

Advice and standards for data producers and depositors

INNO-
VATE

Our research and development projects

Supporting research, learning and teaching with free, high quality and dependable digital resources

Notice

We regularly test new features on our website site, and it is helpful to us if users are registered and can therefore access all site functionality, just click the LOGIN button at the top right to register. Please read the 'About' this site section for more details. This site works best with the Firefox, Chrome and Safari browsers.

Welcome to the new ADS website. There are a number of new features of the website that will make it easier and more enjoyable to use. Why not register as a myADS user to take full advantage of them. On registration these personal myADS features become available...

Workbook

Using the tools at the bottom of each page save your favourite resources and regular searches in the myADS Workbook.

History

Your recent exploration of the site and the archives is automatically saved in your myADS History.

Additional services

Registered ADS users can take advantage of a number of additional myADS services, such as tailored email alerts and download of configurable results sets.

Featured Resource

Guides to Good Practice

The new and revised series of Guides to Good Practice have been produced as the result of a two-year collaborative project between the UK Archaeology Data Service and Digital Antiquity in the US. The project has encompassed important revisions of the existing six ADS Guides as well as the development of entirely new documents covering areas such as marine survey, laser scanning, close-range photogrammetry, digital audio and digital video. The project has involved previous Guides authors revising existing content alongside new authors, from both Europe and the US, also contributing to the development of the guides into new themes and areas.

April 2012: Geophysical Survey Database now on line.

The ADS and English Heritage are pleased to announce the release of the Geophysical Survey Database on line. The English Heritage Geophysical Survey Database was created in 1995 to provide a publically accessible index of all the geophysical surveys of archaeological sites undertaken by English Heritage. This resource contains data on a number of pilot projects and includes information about all surveys carried out over scheduled monuments and protected for which a licence is required under Section 42 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas act 1979. Although not fully comprehensive, by the end of 2011 the database contained records of more than 2700 surveys stretching back to the late 1960s.

March 2012: Forest of Dean LiDAR Survey released.

The ADS, Gloucestershire County Council, the Forestry Commission and English Heritage are pleased to announce the release of Forest of Dean Archaeological Survey: LiDAR Survey.The survey covered the central Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, including extensive areas of woodland and the Aggregates Resource Area.It focused on areas of woodland and adjacent land covering the main hard rock Aggregates Resource Area of the Forest of Dean. Lidar survey was selected for these areas as the Aggregates Resource Area in the Forest of Dean is an area of active quarrying and the results of the lidar survey augmented archaeological investigation already undertaken as part of the Scowles and Associated Iron Industry Survey and enhanced knowledge of the archaeological resource in these areas, informing future conservation and management strategies.

March 2012: Wharram Percy Archive now released.

The ADS, West Yorkshire Archive Service and English Heritage are pleased to announce the release of the Wharram Percy Archive. The primary aim of the project has been to disseminate the results of the excavations carried out at the deserted medieval village site of Wharram Percy, North Yorkshire, between 1950 and 1990. The current phase of the project began in 2000, and has resulted in thirteen publications detailing the principal findings of excavations carried out in various parts of the village site between 1950 and 1990. These volumes have been based on lengthier archive reports and datasets relating to the analysis of stratigraphic, artefactual and environmental data, and it is some of these data that are being disseminated through the ADS.

March 2012: England's Past for Everyone archive released.

The ADS, the University of London, The Heritage Lottery Fund and the Victoria County History (VCH) are pleased to announce the release of the England's Past for Everyone project archive - one of the most wide-ranging local history projects ever undertaken in the UK. This was a 5 year project that focused on studies of particular localities such as Parham House in West Sussex and survival in the unpropitious landscape of Exmoor. A key element of the project was the concept of ethnicity and English identity. Several studies, particularly 'Bristol: Ethnicity and the City, 1000-2001', an account of one thousand years of migration to Bristol, detailed the history of ethnic populations in order to understand their impact on the local environment.