This page (revision-7) was last changed on 04-Jun-2015 21:41 by Alice Cattermole

This page was created on 13-Sep-2012 16:15 by Alison Bennett

Only authorized users are allowed to rename pages.

Only authorized users are allowed to delete pages.

Page revision history

Version Date Modified Size Author Changes ... Change note
7 04-Jun-2015 21:41 38 KB Alice Cattermole to previous
6 11-May-2015 18:01 27 KB Alison Bennett to previous | to last
5 29-Apr-2015 10:22 27 KB Alison Bennett to previous | to last
4 14-Nov-2014 13:52 27 KB Sarah MacLean to previous | to last
3 27-Nov-2012 16:09 27 KB Sarah MacLean to previous | to last
2 27-Nov-2012 16:08 27 KB Sarah MacLean to previous | to last
1 13-Sep-2012 16:15 27 KB Alison Bennett to last

Page References

Incoming links Outgoing links
SectionD.6
SectionD.6

Version management

Difference between version and

At line 200 added 26 lines
!!D.6.7 Using museum collections and online archives for HER enhancement: Enhancement of early prehistoric information within the Norfolk Historic Environment Record
''Alice Cattermole, Norfolk Historic Environment Record''
As part of a recent English Heritage-funded project (6623: Enhancement of early prehistoric information within the Norfolk Historic Environment Record), Norfolk County Council’s Historic Environment Service undertook systematic enhancement of all monument, source, find and event records relating to the early prehistory of the county. This case study highlights the huge potential of working with museum collections and online archives to update and enhance HER records, and to facilitate the signposting of museum collections from HERs.
Norfolk’s early prehistory has long been the focus of study and interest, with nineteenth- and twentieth-century antiquarians regularly combing its beaches and gravel pits in search of traces of our earliest human ancestors. More recently, the spectacular discoveries made by the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project at Happisburgh and excavations at Lynford Quarry have demonstrated the potentially internationally significant character of the county’s early prehistoric remains. However, prior to our recent enhancement project, early prehistoric material was not well-represented with the Norfolk HER (NHER), with many of the early discoveries being either entirely absent or only represented by incomplete bibliographic references. Much of the material was broadly classified as ‘early prehistoric’, and a large number of artefacts had only been assigned the find type ‘lithic implement’. In order to enhance these records, we attempted to draw together all relevant sources of information and systematically incorporate them into the NHER.
While we had access to many detailed finds descriptions and illustrations in the NHER paper files, which we were able to use to enhance the NHER database records, we were also conscious of the fact that many researchers often wish to make a physical examination of early prehistoric material within museum collections, so wherever possible we wanted to be able to signpost this material from the NHER. For this reason, we included the assessment of all early prehistoric material in the Norfolk Museums Service’s collections and the selection of key artefacts and groups of artefacts for digital photography and/or illustration as part of this enhancement project. This task was limited to NMS collections because we were confident that a significant proportion of the early prehistoric material discovered in the county had been donated to NMS, and because it was not practically possible to include examination of material in other collections within the scope of this project.
Our objective was to ensure that the NHER included details of all objects of probable Palaeolithic or Mesolithic date held by Norwich Castle Museum (NCM) and the smaller museums at King’s Lynn, Thetford, Great Yarmouth and Cromer. In order to do this it was necessary to gain access to NMS’s MODES collections database. Various searches were undertaken in order to identify and highlight the records likely to relate to Palaeolithic and Mesolithic objects. In total 1,068 collections and individually accessioned objects were identified, the majority of which are held by NCM, although Thetford and King’s Lynn museums also hold significant early prehistoric collections.
The quality of NMS’s collections database records varied considerably; in many cases they were quite detailed, and occasionally they contained important information that was not recorded by any of the other available sources. Much of this information was relatively straightforward to integrate, particularly in the instances where NHER numbers had been listed. Where NHER references were not listed it was necessary to rely on recorded grid references, site names and parishes in order to establish the location of particular discoveries. Any NMS MODES records which had missing or incorrect NHER numbers were amended at the end of the project, further improving the links between MODES and the NHER. This is something which it is hoped will be developed further and included in any future HER enhancement projects.
As well as integrating descriptive information relating to early prehistoric material in NMS’s collections, we were able to borrow much of this material and ensure that a representative sample of these artefacts were illustrated and/or photographed. The physical examination of these collections also resulted in a number of additional corrections and additions to the related finds records. Digital photographs were taken of over 400 separate objects from NMS collections, providing a broad cross-section of the early prehistoric material in these museums. These photographs have been edited to create composite images following Portable Antiquities Scheme guidelines and linked to the relevant HER records. They have also been supplied to NMS in order for these to be integrated into their digital catalogue.
For artefacts in private collections and in museums other than the NMS, it was agreed that references to this material would be added to the HER where possible but that no further assessment of this material would take place. References were added from secondary sources, with additional information sometimes being obtained from online collections databases and catalogues. One of the greatest difficulties encountered during this process was keeping track of the transfer of objects from one museum or collection to another, and some of the confusion around the quantification of certain objects was resolved once it was established where objects had been transferred between collections and had in effect been double-counted. The time we invested in disentangling such confusion has paid dividends in terms of enabling us to be much more confident about our recording of the locations of key early prehistoric collections and artefacts, as well as quantifying the material more accurately.
As well as using museum collections to enhance our records, another invaluable resource which we were able to fully utilise for the first time as part of this project was some of the archives that have recently been made available online. We had not previously been able to devote any HER staff time to detailed examination of any online archive material. The archive of the late John Wymer (1928–2006), one of the country’s leading Palaeolithic specialists, was identified as an important resource for those researching the county’s early prehistory, especially since Wymer spent almost a decade working in Norfolk. A key element of the archive is Wymer’s eight field notebooks, which were digitised by Wessex Archaeology as part of a project commissioned by English Heritage (with the support of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund). These notebooks record the majority of the site visits which Wymer made between 1949 and 2003 and contain extensive notes as well as site location plans, section drawings and photographs. They also record all of the individually numbered objects that were once part of his personal collection, including finds he recovered himself as well as material which he had inherited from his father. A proportion of these objects were recovered in Norfolk, many of which had not been recorded in the NHER prior to the start of this project.
Another key component of the Wymer archive is the card index he compiled detailing virtually all known Lower and Middle Palaeolithic finds in the country. These records were generated over the course of many years and would form the basis for two major research projects which were undertaken by Wymer in conjunction with Wessex Archaeology: the Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project and the subsequent, larger, English Rivers Palaeolithic Project (TERPS). Although a number of publications were produced at the conclusion of these projects these inevitably contained only a proportion of the information which had been recorded. The TERPS dataset was digitised at the same time as Wymer’s notebooks and this was identified as an important source. Although this database does not contain Wymer’s detailed artefact descriptions, it nevertheless contains much important information, including site notes not found elsewhere and full bibliographic references. Linking the TERPS database to the NHER was straightforward as Wymer had recorded NHER numbers for almost all of the 230 Norfolk entries.
Provision had only been made for the integration of material from the Wymer archive. However, during the course of the project, it came to our attention that the archive of the late Dr Roger Jacobi had also recently been digitised. This is an invaluable resource for the study of the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods in Britain. The principal component of the archive is Jacobi’s extensive card index, which includes information on the thousands of artefacts which he examined over the course of his career. It also incorporates the information gathered during research for the CBA Mesolithic gazetteer (Wymer and Bonsall 1977). This card index formed the basis for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Lithic Artefact (PaMeLA) database, compiled by Wessex Archaeology as part of the English Heritage-commissioned Colonisation of Britain by Modern Humans project. The resultant Colonisation of Britain Database (CBD) is important because it provides not only information on particular sites, but also detailed descriptions of many individual objects. Within the Jacobi archive there were 587 entries for Norfolk which resulted in additions to over 225 monument records.
The purpose of this case study is to illustrate the huge potential that museum collections and online archives have for HER enhancement work. By giving us the capacity to systematically work through the existing catalogues and material archives held by the NMS, as well as other digitised archives, this English Heritage-funded project enabled us to enhance greatly our records relating to Norfolk’s early prehistory. This enhancement has already had an immediate benefit for development management and outreach and engagement within the county, as well as feeding into several major pieces of academic research. The work has also highlighted several rich sources of information which are of great relevance to other HERs, in particular the digitised Wymer and Jacobi archives, and we would encourage the HER community to search these archives for material relevant to their own collection areas.
This page (revision-7) was last changed on 04-Jun-2015 21:41 by Alice Cattermole Top