Site Excavation ‘Archive’
The comprehensive management and organisation of archaeological site archives involves a diverse range of analogue and digital components, each contributing to the documentation, analysis, and preservation of valuable archaeological data. Following is a list of key archaeological site archive elements, with indications of whether they might be expected to be analogue or digital outputs.
| Output Category | Description | Example Output Format |
|---|---|---|
| Site Documentation | ||
| List of all trenches/areas and their addresses (Digital) | Comprehensive list detailing each trench/area and its corresponding address. | Digital list (e.g. .docx, .pdf, .csv or .xlsx) |
| Archive/HER reference numbers (Digital) | Reference numbers associated with archives or Historic Environment Records, specific to regions (like ECB numbers in Cambridgeshire). | Digital reference list (e.g. .txt, .pdf or .xlsx) |
| Watching brief, test pit, and evaluation trench records (Analogue/Digital) | Documentation and records associated with specific excavation methodologies and evaluations. | Analogue/Digital records (e.g. .pdf, .docx or .odt) |
| Stratigraphic Documentation | ||
| Context (plan), section, finds, and sample registers of all areas/sites (Analogue/Digital) | Registers detailing plans, sections, finds, and samples across sites or areas. | Analogue/Digital registers (e.g. .pdf, .docx or .xlsx) |
| Context sheets (notebooks) including primary stratigraphic relationships (Analogue/Digital) (Scanned if no alternative) | Database files or proforma sheets (or notebooks) used for recording context details. | Analogue/Digital/ (e.g. .csv, .xlsx ) Scanned sheets (.pdf if no alternative) |
| Plan sheets (Analogue/Digital/Scanned) | Sheets used for documenting plans. | Analogue/Digital/Scanned sheets (e.g. .pdf, .jpg or .png; or as CAD files: .dxf or .dwg) |
| Sections/elevations (Analogue/Scanned) | Visual representations of sections or elevations of the excavation area. | Analogue/Scanned representations (e.g. .pdf .jpg or .png; or as CAD files: .dxf or .dwg) |
| Matrices and Registers | ||
| Draft and final site wide or area matrices (Analogue/Digital) | Preliminary and final matrices for an entire site or specific areas. | Analogue/Digital matrices (e.g. .pdf, .docx, .xlsx, .dwg or .json) |
| Plan matrices (Analogue/Digital) | Atomised plan matrices for individual grid squares (single context recording only). | Analogue/Digital matrices (e.g. .pdf, .docx, .xlsx, .dwg or .json) |
| Notebooks (eg. survey day books) (Analogue/Digital) | Notebooks, such as ones used during surveys. | Analogue/Digital notebooks (e.g. .pdf, .docx or .odt) |
| Visual Documentation | ||
| Photos (Digital, possibly Analogue, scanned where necessary) and Metadata | Photographs of the site, features, or artefacts. Metadata provides additional information or context for each photo. | Digital/Analogue photos with metadata (e.g. .jpg or .dng or .tiff) |
| Scanned context sheets with appropriate metadata | Digitised context sheets, paired with corresponding metadata. | Scanned sheets with metadata (e.g. .pdf, .jpg or .png) |
| Drawing scans with appropriate metadata | Digitised versions of drawings with associated metadata. | Scanned drawings with metadata (e.g. .pdf, .jpg, .png, .svg, .dwg or .dxf) |
| Digital Data | ||
| Spreadsheets (Digital) | Various ‘flat file’ digital data. | Flat file tables (e.g. .csv, .xlsx, or .ods) |
| Database downloads/clones (Digital) with metadata | Digital databases, accompanied by their metadata. | Database files with metadata (e.g. .csv or .db) |
| GIS Data | ||
| GIS and Survey Data (Digital) | Digital data related to GIS and surveys, including attributes for grouping, phasing, and periods. Should be accessible and non-proprietary. | Data tables, shapefiles, and spatial raster data Metadata (e.g. .csv, .shp, .kml, .gdb, .gml, .geojson, .geotiff) |
It is important to note that some elements can exist in both analogue and digital formats, depending on the specific project requirements (example file types above are for digital formats only).