• Introduction
• Overview
• Downloads
• Metadata
• Usage Statistics

Data copyright © Prof Julian D Richards unless otherwise stated

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Primary contact

Prof Julian D Richards
Department of Archaeology
University of York
King's Manor
Exhibition Square
York
YO1 7EP
England
Tel: 01904 433901
Fax: 01904 433902

Send e-mail enquiry

Resource identifiers

• ADS Collection: 312
• DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000339
• How to cite using this DOI

Overview

The Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian settlements known as Cottam B (East Yorkshire) were the focus of field walking, geophysical survey, and excavation from 1993-5. A second site, at Cottam A, was examined in 1996; here a Romano-British farmstead was re-used in the Anglo-Scandinavian period. The fieldwork was conducted under the auspices of the Department of Archaeology, University of York, and principally funded by the British Academy and the Earthwatch Foundation.

The Cottam B fieldwork was published in the Archaeological Journal 156 (1999). By kind permission of the Royal Archaeological Institute it is also featured as an experiment in electronic publication in Internet Archaeology 10 (2001), providing enhanced database search facilities, and with an electronic text which is fully integrated with the supporting digital archive deposited with the ADS. The finds and paper archive are deposited with Hull Museum. (The Cottam A publication will appear in print in due course and at that stage its digital archive will also be deposited with the ADS).

The archive reports and raw data for Cottam B are offered here as a pilot study in the potential re-use of primary fieldwork data. Those aspects available in the digital archive but not in the traditional paper publication include:

• "Level III" reports covering the full stratigraphic sequence
• the complete flint report
• an extensive finds database, with 2-D co-ordinates for each find, geo-referenced to the OS national grid
• a sample of CAD files, including a rectified aerial photographic plot which provides a suitable base map for an intra-site GIS
• colour images of many of the metal-detected finds

During post-excavation analysis extensive use was made of distribution plots generated in the project GIS using ARC/INFO. A limited number of finds distributions were examined in the publication but one of the strengths of the digital archive is the potential for the user to recreate aspects of the project GIS from the CAD files and database and to explore further intra-site patterning. Users are encouraged to explore and re-analyse the dataset on condition that any publications acknowledge the data source.

A note on spatial geo-referencing

All the datasets made available have been geo-referenced using co-ordinates based upon the Ordnance Survey national grid reference. Users should note some differences in precision of the various files. The rectified aerial photos were processed using AERIAL from the original aerial photographs using reference points from the 1:10000 OS map; the trench outlines are based on total station recording on site to 0.01m precision, subsequently converted from the local site grid to the national grid. In the case of the finds, those recovered during excavation were recorded by total station; those recovered by metal detector were recorded by pacing out in relation to a base line along the current field boundary. Finds location is therefore only recorded to 1 m precision, and in some cases may be less accurate than that.

Users with access to a digital base map geo-referenced to the national grid may choose to use that as a base map; others can use the air photo transcription to allow them to see finds in relation to the key site features. Users may also find to useful to consult the Internet Archaeology publication and the PATOIS tutorial on excavation archives for further information.

The full publication which complements this archive is available from Internet Archaeology