A CORE STANDARD for ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARCHIVING#
1) DEFINITIONS#
An archaeological archive comprises all records and materials recovered during an archaeological project and identified for long-term preservation, including artefacts, ecofacts and other environmental remains, waste products, scientific samples and also written and visual documentation in paper, film and digital form.
An archaeological project is any programme of work that involves the collection and/or production of information about an archaeological site, assemblage or object in any environment, including in the field, under water, at a desk or in a laboratory. Examples of an archaeological project include: intrusive projects such as excavation, field evaluation, watching brief, surface recovery and the destructive analysis of objects; non-intrusive projects such as landscape or building survey, aerial survey, remote sensing, off-site research such as desk-based assessment and the recording of objects or object assemblages. The re-investigation of archives in curatorial care also constitutes an archaeological project.
2) COMPOSITION#
An archaeological archive consists of two main elements:
- The documentary archive comprises records and associated documentation created during the course of an archaeological project.
- The material (finds) archive comprises objects and associated samples.
Documentary Archive#
The documentary archive may include: correspondence, contracts, specifications, notes, records, pro-forma, indexes, catalogues, reports, maps, plans, section drawings, elevations, site photographs, object images, CAD files, databases, digital aerial photograph interpretations, excavation archives, geophysical and other survey data, GIS files, audio records, images, satellite imagery, spreadsheets, text files, analytical results and 3-D data.
These can be created on the following carrier media:
- Drawn, photographic, written and printed material on paper
- Drawn material on film
- Photographs on film, transparencies, x-radiographs, videotape and microfilm
- Digital files on hard drives or transfer media.
Material (Finds) Archive#
The material (finds) archive may include:
- artefacts, such as pottery, tile, worked stone, glass, metalwork, worked bone, leather and textile;
- ecofacts or environmental remains, such as animal bone and plant remains;
- human remains, which require specific treatment in accordance with relevant national or state standards and legislation;
- waste products, such as slag, hammerscale and off-cuts;
- material recovered from scientific sampling, which is often the product of laboratory analysis, such as environmental samples, thin-sections, microfossil slides, casts.