Reconstructing the ancient past: Digital access and visibility of the Garstang distributed collection
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Library
Abstract
John Garstang (1876-1956) was one of the most prolific excavators of his day, digging at sites along the Egyptian and Sudanese Nile, Syria, Palestine and Turkey. Garstang was trained in the field by the most prominent excavator of the time, Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) of University College London, but soon moved on to run his own excavations, establishing the Institute of Archaeology in Liverpool (1904). Between 1884 and 1983 the Egyptian Antiquities Service could grant excavators a division of the finds made each season, reserving the most significant objects for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Garstang's excavations were sponsored by a committee of patrons who received a share of the finds exported under the terms of the excavation permit. Museums in the UK and worldwide benefited and other objects found their way onto the auction market, creating a widespread distribution that has yet to be recorded.
This distribution (c.100 institutions) has restricted findability, accessibility, and usage. Some Garstang excavation finds and archives provide the only record of communities and landscapes that have been destroyed (e.g. Meroë in Sudan), but material is not accessioned/ catalogued. In many repositories, replicas and reference materials are confused with originals. Important objects are stored across repositories with vastly diverse research and discovery infrastructure and particularly for small museums (with a concentration in the North West), there are limited resources and no subject expertise to identify finds or reinterpret holdings. Some holdings surveys have been carried out to aid research, but whilst it remains difficult to trace a corpus of material, the Garstang collection is off the radar for multidisciplinary research purposes. This compounds a London-centric concentration of use and reuse of archaeological collections for heritage science.
The largest holdings of Garstang finds and archives are held across the University of Liverpool (UoL) Garstang Museum of Archaeology, and National Museums Liverpool (NML), with approximately 50% accessioned and limited data online. Liverpool has world class experts, archaeology laboratories and digital heritage facilities offering a unique ecosystem alongside the Garstang Museum, all working as complementary enablers and connectors for heritage science research.
We will transform accessibility and visibility of the distributed collection with a network of partner museums and expertise starting in the North West, with the intention to go global. We will simplify the research process, creating opportunities for academic researchers to work with collection finds in repositories that have not had recognition or visibility as research infrastructure. Researchers and curators will enhance knowledge and understanding of material composition, deepen understanding of colonial acquisition and distribution practices, working with countries of origin. Researchers will be able to investigate lost landscapes and cultures, particularly pertinent for regions with political instability.
This will be achieved by: improving collection security and storage at UoL, enabling multiple stakeholders and experts to access and document the collection safely; creating virtual consultation environments using visualisers for collaborative conversations and identification of Garstang finds; adopting a comprehensive collections management system, collating records of UoL finds and data extracted from archival records and photographs, creating an online portal to publicise and track research resources across institutions and share expert digital interpretation and visualisations, including Arabic access points; create an ongoing community network of repositories to improve public understanding and usability in research, building evidence of distribution and finds information, sharing best practice in distributed collections accessibility.
This distribution (c.100 institutions) has restricted findability, accessibility, and usage. Some Garstang excavation finds and archives provide the only record of communities and landscapes that have been destroyed (e.g. Meroë in Sudan), but material is not accessioned/ catalogued. In many repositories, replicas and reference materials are confused with originals. Important objects are stored across repositories with vastly diverse research and discovery infrastructure and particularly for small museums (with a concentration in the North West), there are limited resources and no subject expertise to identify finds or reinterpret holdings. Some holdings surveys have been carried out to aid research, but whilst it remains difficult to trace a corpus of material, the Garstang collection is off the radar for multidisciplinary research purposes. This compounds a London-centric concentration of use and reuse of archaeological collections for heritage science.
The largest holdings of Garstang finds and archives are held across the University of Liverpool (UoL) Garstang Museum of Archaeology, and National Museums Liverpool (NML), with approximately 50% accessioned and limited data online. Liverpool has world class experts, archaeology laboratories and digital heritage facilities offering a unique ecosystem alongside the Garstang Museum, all working as complementary enablers and connectors for heritage science research.
We will transform accessibility and visibility of the distributed collection with a network of partner museums and expertise starting in the North West, with the intention to go global. We will simplify the research process, creating opportunities for academic researchers to work with collection finds in repositories that have not had recognition or visibility as research infrastructure. Researchers and curators will enhance knowledge and understanding of material composition, deepen understanding of colonial acquisition and distribution practices, working with countries of origin. Researchers will be able to investigate lost landscapes and cultures, particularly pertinent for regions with political instability.
This will be achieved by: improving collection security and storage at UoL, enabling multiple stakeholders and experts to access and document the collection safely; creating virtual consultation environments using visualisers for collaborative conversations and identification of Garstang finds; adopting a comprehensive collections management system, collating records of UoL finds and data extracted from archival records and photographs, creating an online portal to publicise and track research resources across institutions and share expert digital interpretation and visualisations, including Arabic access points; create an ongoing community network of repositories to improve public understanding and usability in research, building evidence of distribution and finds information, sharing best practice in distributed collections accessibility.
