Newsletter 1 - December 2012#

You can download the complete newsletter here

ARCHES – Archaeological Resources in Cultural Heritage – a European Standard#

We are very pleased to welcome you to the ARCHES project which is coordinated by the State Office for Cultural Heritage Management Baden-Württemberg in Germany and consists of 8 partners from 7 countries.
ARCHES is an exciting project which started on June 2012 and runs till May 2014. It will propose a standard and manual of best practices for the management of archaeological resources.
We look forward to keeping you informed through this newsletter which will be published 2 times a year.
You can also follow us and join in discussions about the project on the ARCHES page on LinkedIn.
Contact and information: [email protected]

The background of the project#

In 2007 The Europae Archaeologiae Consilium1 (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 Valletta, 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 four 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.

The ARCHES project#

The ARCHES project is funded by the Culture Programme 2007-2013 – Strand 1.2.1. Cooperation measures of European Commision (Agreement number 2012-1399/001-001).
The purpose of the project is to agree a European standard that will benefit cultural heritage practice and management in Europe and to produce a best practice manual and twinned web presence for the creation, compilation, transfer and curation of the products of European archaeology.
This project will be achieved through the cooperation of eight partners from seven European states. Recognition of an agreed standard will facilitate the management of the archaeological resource across all participating states. This project will promote the sharing of best practice for archaeological archives in the protection, preservation and presentation of archaeological materials and information. It will facilitate access to our common cultural heritage across Europe.
The proposed manual for the creation, compilation, transfer and curation of archaeological archives, will bring together the recommendations of existing country and state-specific standards and guidance documents, provide standards where none currently exist, and provide guidance for implementation of shared best practice in all the participating countries. The EAC working party will continue to exist in order to guarantee the sustainability of the manual and web presence thus ensuring that they remain current and relevant.

ARCHES partner profiles#

In this newsletter:
State Office for Cultural Heritage Management Baden-Württemberg, Esslingen, Germany
The Swedish National Heritage Board