Cite this as: Richards, J.D. 2023 Getting it Together: Combining information about archaeological sites and artefacts in ARIADNE, Internet Archaeology 64. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.64.14
This article discusses the situation that exists in several European countries, whereby information about archaeological sites and monuments, and that about finds recorded by members of the public (primarily via metal detecting), is held in entirely separate databases. This prevents heritage management decisions being taken with full awareness of known archaeology, and makes research that seeks to draw on multiple information resources difficult. The article demonstrates how the European ARIADNE e-infrastructure has facilitated the integration of large-scale artefact and site information. Over one million records from the British Museum Portable Antiquities Scheme database and over one million records for English sites, monuments, and grey literature have been integrated in an open access interface for the first time, permitting entirely new research questions to be addressed.
Corresponding author: Julian D. Richards
julian.richards@york.ac.uk
University of York
Figure 1: Comparison of chronological ranges:
Figure 2: Comparison of chronological ranges:
Figure 3: Comparison of chronological range of the Getty classification 'Pins (fasteners)':
Figure 4: Heat map distribution of all finds recorded in the PAS:
Figure 5: Central and Eastern England:
Figure 6: Results list from a search for early medieval brooches of the period AD 400-650, recorded in the PAS (n=5817)
Figure 7:
Figure 8: The East Yorkshire region, centred on the Anglo-Saxon royal centre at Driffield:
Figure 9: The record for Kilham Anglo-Saxon cemetery, derived from the Historic England national inventory. The nearby red markers indicate the approximate location of finds recorded by the PAS, including several examples of early Anglo-Saxon metalwork
Figure 10: Entry for an Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy brooch recorded in the PAS, and the fieldwork record for a survey conducted of ploughed-out ring ditches at Wickhambreaux, Kent, adjacent to the find spot
Figure 11: The metadata record for the Historic England Research Report detailing the geophysical survey recording the ploughed-out ring ditches at Wickhambreaux, with Digital Object Identifier (DOI) link to download the report
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