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 |