ARCHES Background of the project#
Archaeological archives consist of all material deemed worthy of retention generated by any type of archaeological project. This includes the historic artefacts as well as the written, drawn, and photographic records and the digital data about the site and its associated finds collection. The successful preservation of the archive for the future benefit of the people of Europe depends on the implementation of best practice in creating, compiling, transferring and curating the results of every archaeological project.
In 2008 The Europae Archaeologiae Consilium (http://www.E-A-C.org
) held a symposium on archaeological archiving, which revealed that many member countries shared common problems. The most pressing issues are the provision of good access to archaeological archives, setting and sustaining digital archive standards, wide variations in archaeological recording practice and maintaining good curatorial practice in order that historic artefacts and collections can be best preserved, displayed, accessed and circulated within Europe in accordance with the Treaty of Valleta, 1992 . There was unanimous agreement that it was desirable to develop a guide to best practice and adopt an overarching standard for archaeological archives across Europe. The EAC Board took the decision to form a Working Party to find solutions to the issues identified at the symposium (http://www.european-archaeological-council.org/13-0-Archives.html).
The EAC working party has eight representatives from seven countries and has met on a quarterly basis over the last two years. It also has a corresponding member from the Society of American Archaeologists, which is working towards a similar goal and the two groups will share developments. In these regular meetings the working party has covered the common ground that our respective countries share with respect to archiving and has thoroughly debated the means for developing the proposed standard and disseminates it in the form of a manual. The result is a clear scope and detailed methodology for achieving our goal.