Excavation reports in Germany are way less centralized than in e.g. UK, so that a multitude of hosts exist.
- IANUS – Forschungsdatenzentrum Archäologie & Altertumswissenschaften (organized and hosted by DAI)
- ARIADNE
- ADS
All posts by DArS chair
ADS – Archaeological Data Service
The ADS – Archaeological Data Service is probably one of the biggest archives for excavation data in the United Kingdom. It covers most data from England, but also hosts some data from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Isle of Man. In addition, you can find some reports from Europe, Middle East, South America, Africa and Asia. It allows you to search the archives by free text or browse them sorted by time period, finds, region etc.
All data in ADS is free for access, and only requires you to accept the terms of use and access every time you download a report. You may also register for an account and get immediate access to all data.
Data Sources – UK
The following are some of the best sources for archaeological data in the United Kingdom
- ACA – Access Cambridge Archaeology (direct link)
- ADS – Archaeological Data Service
- Wessex Archaeology online (direct link)
Ances Trees
AncesTrees was developed for assessing ancestry based on metric analysis. AncesTrees relies on a machine learning ensemble algorithm, random forest, to classify the human skull. In the ensemble learning paradigm, several models are generated and co-jointly used to arrive at the final decision. The random forest algorithm creates ensembles of decision trees classifiers, a non-linear and non-parametric classification technique. The database used in AncesTrees is composed by 23 craniometric variables from 1,734 individuals, representative of six major ancestral groups and selected from the Howells’ craniometric series.
CRANID
The purpose of CRANID is to assess a skull’s probable biological ancestry, in the broad geographical sense of the ‘ethnographic present’.
The package allows you to use multivariate methods of linear discriminant analysis and nearest neighbour discriminant analysis with 29 measurements on an individual skull. It assumes that the individual skull is within the range of variation of modern Homo sapiens. The skulls will be classified after automated comparison with 74 samples that include 3,163 skulls from around the world.
Authored by Richard Wright. http://osteoware.si.edu/comment/196
Osteoware
A comprehensive PC based application for skeleton recording, uses the US Smithsonian recording standards.
See http://osteoware.si.edu/forum/osteoware-communityannouncements/cranid-richard-wright-0 for details
Level-Pad
A simple phone or tablet based App to calculate levels when excavating.
Works like a traditional paper levels book, but does the sums for you. Can export data to CSV format or share with other users.
See https://levelpad.wordpress.com for details
Skelly-Pad
Tablet based App for recording skeletons in the field or lab. Records Adult or Juvenile skeletons with sex, age and stature estimations. Allows user to draw or annotate a visual image of the skeleton and atatch photos. Data can be exported and shared with other Skelly-Pad users.
See https://skellypad.wordpress.com fore more details
Dr Gill Hunt
Gill has worked in the IT industry for many years, most recently as an expert witness helping clients unravel the mess caused by large IT project failures. She has just completed a BSc in Archaeology at the University of Reading and through that discovered an interest in developing tools to help archaeologists in their day to day activities.
So far she has concentrated on Apps but she is also interested in database design, archives and using new technology to provide practical solutions to research problems.
What’s available?
This is a list of digital tools that are either aimed specifically at archaeologists or that archaeologists have found useful, on excavations or in the lab.