JISC

Start date: 1 December 2004

End date: 30 November 2006

Funding programme: Virtual Research Environments programme (phase 1)

JISC theme(s): e-Research

The Silchester Roman Town archaeological excavation is one of the largest Roman sites in the UK. Silchester’s principal data collection are contained within the York Archaeological Trust’s (YAT) Integrated Archaeological Database (IADB) which is held on a server in Reading, removed from the data collection process in Hampshire and relevant experts at the Universities of Cardiff, Reading, Southampton and Oxford. The types of data involved are extremely diffuse, including numismatics, spatial site plans, matrix information, as well as the full range of data on find types and distribution. The annual excavation period at Silchester comprises eight weeks of intensive data gathering in a tight timeframe and with limited personnel. The site’s excavation team has recognised the need for a more fluid and accessible network of human expertise. Many of the experts are geographically dispersed, both from each other, from the site, and from relevant information held elsewhere. This makes the exchange of ideas and interpretations, which are critical to the research process, very cumbersome; a major problem long recognised in field archaeology. This project will provide the basis for a virtual solution to it.

Aims and Objectives

The overall aim of the project is to develop a system to facilitate rapidly developing and iterative archaeological research by synchronising the three processes of gathering information, co-ordinating expertise, and managing the resulting body of data.

The specific objectives are to:

• Establish full interoperability between different IADB datasets, wherever they physically reside.
• Improve real time on-site data gathering including an assessment of the usefulness of handheld PDA devices using wireless networking (WiFi) and/or mobile phone (GPRS) technologies.
• Develop a structured mechanism for classifying thematic Research Domains or Views, which will operate across servers and across projects.
• Develop a framework for the creation of real-time online conferences involving both on- and off-site project workers and remote specialists.

Project Methodology

To explore and evaluate the use of real time on-site digital data capture, the project will run pilot projects during the 2005 excavation season utilising PDAs, smart phones and tablet PCs in combination with both wireless networking (WiFi) and the GPRS data network. The pilots will be run concurrently with the Silchester project’s established recording systems. A report on the pilots will be prepared following the 2005 excavation season.

Development of the VRE will be integrated within the IADB building on existing concepts, protocols and data structures. For example, the Research Domains or Views, which will form the core of the VRE, can be seen as logical and direct developments of the IADB’s Object data structure.

To extend the applicability of the VRE beyond Silchester, the IADB will be developed to provide interoperability, particularly with regard to Research Domains and Views, across different IADB projects and servers.

Implications/ Deliverables/ Stakeholders

The project findings will be cycled back to all stakeholders within the Silchester project including excavation staff, post-excavation researchers and specialists by means of project seminars and practical trials during the two excavation seasons covered by the project. They will also be disseminated more broadly to the wider archaeological community through a series of reports and conference papers. The project will yield recommendations for the use of hand-held digital data capture devices on future excavations as well as a framework for a VRE for archaeology and a software implementation of such a VRE built around the IADB. Ultimately, the project will meet both the immediate needs of the Silchester excavation project, and will address a long standing issue in field archaeology.

Project Partners

University of Reading, Department of Archaeology
http://www.silchester.reading.ac.uk

University of Reading, IT Services

University of Reading, Environmental Systems Science Centre (ESSC)

York Archaeological Trust
http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk