Internet Archaeol 15. Paul Gilman. Worcestershire Archaeology Services

3.3 Worcestershire Archaeology Services

Worcestershire's Archaeology Service has produced an impressive amount of documentation concerning its desire to transform its SMR into an HER. The service has an ambitious vision of a record embracing a wide range of information from historic landscapes to ceramic type series. The model on which the HER is to be based will be dynamic, embracing both factual records and interpretations. These will be linked, through GIS, to the spatial representation of research frameworks and also to management. This is the core of the system with supplementary modules including, for example, ceramics, environmental archaeology, historic landscape characterisation, and historic buildings. There will also be an illustrated archaeological glossary. The development of the HER is seen as the basis for a digital strategy for the Archaeology Service as a whole.

The Worcestershire HER is of particular interest as being one of the first attempts to think through the philosophy and issues involved in creating an HER. These include the use of computing and the incorporation of digital data. It will be interesting to observe progress over the next few years, and it is to be hoped that funding can be found to enable the vision to become reality.