The Archaeologist's Guide To Good Practice - Handbook

Work on The Matrix project (AH/T002093/1) has identified a number of issues with the way archaeological information is deposited in digital archives. Consultation carried out during the Matrix project has delivered feedback that a collective approach to tackling these issues would be most effective in delivering a sustainable and FAIR outcome. The Matrix project has also established a current lack of the use of Data Management Plans (DMPs) 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 e.g. a data package for stratigraphic and chronological data. Currently no single body has the resources and over-arching strategic position to investigate and address the digital archiving issues facing the different archaeological bodies undertaking development control archaeological work. The best placed body to represent the collective interests of the commercial archaeology sector is FAME, the Federation of Archaeological Managers and Employers.

The aim of this project is 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 working practice for this work. This feasibility study will include 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 fieldwork as part of the development control process.

Success in achieving the sustainability of the data will depend upon a collective agreement on the common processes and methodologies used during post-excavation activities. The Matrix project has used stratigraphic and chronometric data as a test case for adoption of FAIR principles in archaeological digital data management. Therefore, this project will also undertake work to draw up documentation in the form of a 'Code of Practice' for Stratigraphic and chronological methods and data, and make recommendations for how a Community of Practice can be sustained for maintaining associated best practice guidance, e-learning resources and online tools going forward. To make the use of the Code of Practice most widely applicable across archaeological fieldwork worldwide, part of this project work will also involve the drafting of an International Convention on archaeological stratigraphic and chronological methods and data.

In the last 25 years the Heritage sector and others have concentrated on how the digital data created and stored on computers can be preserved to the same degree that physical archives being produced by UK fieldwork and deposited with UK museums, can be kept for the benefit of future generations. This interest in digital preservation is especially strong in the archaeological world where excavation data are being increasingly recorded using the latest computer technologies as "born digital" data i.e. data created on, and only preserved and useable on a computer. Archaeologists, are particularly concerned to ensure that digital records of excavations are safely digitally archived and preserved for future research, because an archaeological excavation cannot be repeated. This focus has helped address the principle concerns about "how do we keep this stuff digitally". But although there are now well-established digital archives, such as The Archaeology Data Service, their next challenge is whether the digital records from excavations, and all the additional work carried out during analysis and publication of sites to interpret and synthesise such data, are preserved and accessible in a way that data is most useful to others beyond the archives and the archivist.