Advisory checklist

The advisory checklist specifies the criteria against the three types of specialist report:

Type 1: Description - for relatively insignificant assemblages
Type 2: Appraisal - where there is the potential for further work
Type 3: Full analysis - following detailed analysis of significant assemblages

Table definitions:

X - include this
O - include this if possible or appropriate

Overall Project Report	1	2	3
Quantification of overall site assemblage by category, eg coins, pottery, iron, animal bone, charcoal (as minimum tabulated by weight for bulk finds/enviro, item count for registered finds)	X	X	X
Description of recovery strategy, eg hand collection, bulk sample derived, metal detector	X	X	X
Description of excavation sampling strategy	X	X	X
Description of selection strategy	X	X	X
Location of final archive (digital and physical) including repository accession number	X	X	X
Interpretation of the overall material assemblage, incorporating discussion of the local and wider context and the evidence from the site as a whole	X	X	X

Specialist Report (material or object categories, eg animal bone; coins)
Document information	1	2	3
Title of report incorporating subject and project name	X	X	X
Name of author (including qualifications)	X	X	X
Date of data collection/recording	X	X	X
Date of analysis/report completion	X	X	X
Introduction	1	2	3
Summary of the nature of the assemblage and its significance	X	X	X
Overall size of assemblage (eg total count and weight)	X	X	X
Aims of the report	X	X	X
Description of recovery strategy, eg hand collection, bulk samples derived, metal detector	X	X	X
Description of environmental sampling strategy (if relevant)	X	X	X
Summary of relevant context information/feature types (avoiding repetition of stratigraphic narrative)	X	X	X
Range of dates/periods/phases represented in the assemblage	X	X	X
Methodology	1	2	3
Description of methods of study: methods of both identification and quantification	X	X	X
Reference methods of study to existing and appropriate standards	X	X	X
Identification of formal reference/research collections or type series used during recording, eg physical type series, online type series, environmental collections	X	X	X
Reference to use of source material/bibliographic resources/thesaurus during recording, eg published corpus	X	X	X
Concordance of codes/abbreviations and their meanings	X	X	X
Description of any scientific analysis carried out	X	X	X
Description of archive products of the recording process	X	X	X
Description of selection of the assemblage for archive	X	X	X
Quantification	1	2	3
Quantification of assemblage category overall by an appropriate method, eg individual object count, fragment count or weight (eg number of coins; quantities of bone; quantities of pottery)	X	X	X
Higher-level quantification by an appropriate method (eg Estimated Vessel Equivalent (EVE), Minimum Number of Vessels (MNV), Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI), Number of Identified Specimens (NISP))			X
Characterisation	1	2	3
Material classified to an appropriate level: eg glass/colourless glass; stone/limestone/oolitic limestone; pottery/earthenware/Malvern ware; animal bone/large mammal/sheep; charcoal/oak; slag/iron slag/smithing slag	X	X	X
Objects classified at basic level, eg coin, brooch, jar, scraper, tibia	X	X	X
Objects classified at detailed level, eg denarius, bow brooch, globular jar, thumbnail scraper, left tibia	O	O	X
Artefacts classified by diagnostic components, eg variation of rims, brooch plates, obverse/reverse of coins		O	X
Artefact descriptions include specific details, eg decoration, surface treatment, eg incised, glazed, burnished, stamped		X	X
Description of condition and/or completeness, eg levels of abrasion, brokenness, wear, count of fragments, burnt	O	X	X
Description of condition in relation to taphonomic processes of deposition and preservation (especially for ecofacts/environmental remains)			X
Description of evidence of use/alteration, eg burning, sooting, wear patterns, butchery marks, adze marks, repair, residues and limescale		X	X
Description of manufacture/technology, eg method of manufacture/feature of manufacture (such as thread count)		X	X
Integration of results of scientific analysis (chemical composition; geological character)	O	X	X
Significance, potential and recommendations	1	2	3
Statement of significance and potential of material/assemblage	X	X
Statement of contribution of material/assemblage to project research aims	O	X	X
Statement of new material/assemblage-led research aims		X
Recommendation for further recording and analysis		X
Recommendation for illustration	O	X
Contextualisation	1	2	3
Discussion of assemblage in relation to contextual information	X	X	X
Discussion of assemblage in relation to chronological sequence, character of site, function of features, site formation processes			X
Interpretation	1	2	3
Detailed discussion of assemblage in its own terms, eg relative proportions of different types, of different dates	X	X	X
Discussion of assemblage in relation to excavated evidence	O	X	X
Discussion of assemblage in relation to chronological sequence, character of site, function of features, site formation processes		O	X
Discussion of the assemblage as evidence for the way of life as represented at the site over time			X
Integrated discussion with other evidence from the site to explore aspects such as site/feature morphology, site function and socio-economic context			X
Discussion of the assemblage in local, regional and wider context, in relation to other site assemblages, to explore economic and social context, eg trade, supply, distribution, consumption			X
Presentation	1	2	3
Presentation of quantified data in standardised form, eg appropriate use of graphs/tables	X	X	X
Presentation of quantified data, related to context/structural sequence/phasing		X	X
Presentation of detailed characterisation data (eg fabric/ware types) to context/structural sequence/phasing			X
Presentation of descriptive information in standardised forms, eg tables	O	X	X
Presentation of scientific data in accessible form, eg tables, plots, graphs		X	X
Catalogue (as a minimum all illustrated items should be accompanied by a catalogue) including standardised description of object/item as appropriate to find type, eg context, descriptor, condition, completeness, count, weight, dimensions, stratigraphic group/feature	X		X
Illustration; through drawing, photography, x-radiographs, digital imaging	X		X
Bibliography	X	X	X
Acknowledgements	X	X	X

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