Background to creation of this Toolkit
This Toolkit has been developed from work on The Archaeologists Guide to Good Practice - Handbook project (AH/X006735/1) which itself followed on from The Matrix project (AH/T002093/1) that identified a number of issues with reusing the archaeological information in digital archives.
The Matrix Project
Consultation carried out during the Matrix project delivered feedback that a collective approach from archaeological practitioners to tackling these issues would be most effective in delivering a sustainable outcome. The Matrix project identified the lack of standard documentation of procedures followed during post excavation work by the commercial archaeological sector (and even largely by academics) and identified a need for a cross-sector set of common procedures to reflect and enshrine best practice in post-excavation analysis work. The research projects funded by AHRC/UKRI recommended that further work should be undertaken with stakeholders across the sector, and particularly the major contracting archaeology organizations, to develop shared good practice documentation in the form of an online handbook, which has now developed into this toolkit.
The Archaeologist's Guide to Good Practice (AG2GP) - Handbook project
So, following on from The Matrix, The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded the original AG2GP-Handbook project to develop a good practice guide for a cross-sector set of common procedures to reflect and enshrine best practice in post-excavation work on stratigraphic analysis.
The aim of the AG2GP-Handbook project was to draw together the collective expertise of the main archaeological contractors in the UK and, in consultation with other stakeholders from the sector, undertake the necessary feasibility work and organize the required collaborative activities to develop a consortium approach and online tools and resources to support best practice for this work. The feasibility study included identifying the most appropriate business model to build a sustainable service that will meet the business needs of the large, medium and small-scale enterprises that undertake archaeological work as part of the development planning process. This CIfA Toolkit is the outcome of that work.