Archaeological Data Collection

The archaeological data we are using for this research is, for the most part, a result of developer funded excavations by commercial archaeological companies, that take place across the country in advance of construction work. Commercial archaeology in the UK developed in response to the intensity of  redevelopment, particularly urban redevelopment, in the last quarter of the 20th century and followed on from the archaeological ‘Rescue’  movement that developed after WW2.

In the immediate post-WW2 period, teams of volunteers, members of local interest groups, set about saving finds from sites where building work was being carried out. Towns and cities, such as London, Southampton and Coventry which experienced considerable damage through WW2 bombing campaigns received particular attention from archaeologists. Through financial support from both central and local government, this enabled extensive archaeological excavations to be undertaken.  Over the course of 20 years this work expanded to road schemes, such as the building of the M4 and M5 in the 1960s, and to smaller towns and cities such as Winchester, Colchester, Chichester and Northampton.  These works became more formalised, with museums and local councils leading in supporting the projects.

The huge increase in archaeological work meant there was a need to develop systems in which this work could be documented and catalogued. This led to the creation of the role of ‘County Archaeologist’ across most counties of mainland Britain and the establishment of Sites and Monuments Records (today’s Historic Environment Records).

What are Historic Environment Records?

Historic Environment Records (HERs) are databases holding detailed heritage records for each county in England. These records include information on archaeological excavations and finds, historic buildings, historical details associated with particular locations (for example battle sites or possible now disappeared castle and other historical sites), and environmental information such as peat deposits and historic woodland.

These incredible datasets hold vast amounts of information. They are organic in nature: the people who first developed these records had a huge influence on the type of information and the way in which it was collected. Each region is therefore slightly different and nuanced. The instigation of such records was usually by an individual in an area. For example, Mick Aston was appointed in 1974 as County Archaeologist for Somerset. He established the sites and monuments records for the county which would develop into today’s HER. In Norfolk, Roy Rainbird Clarke began the card catalogue of the archaeology of Norfolk. He first worked in the areas as assistant to O. G. S. Crawford, the archaeologist for the Ordnance Survey, in the revision in the Ordnance Survey map of Roman Norfolk. This initial dataset formed the beginnings of the Norfolk HER archaeology as other periods were added to this.

Whilst there are distinct features of each of these databases, over the last 20 years there has been a concerted attempted to standardise the datasets with the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage developing a Thesaurus of terminology which has been adopted across the HERs. In doing this, the use-ability of the datasets at a national level, being able to compare and collect data from across regions, has been made easier. In addition, Historic England centralises much of this data within Pastscape. The primary place for deposition of this information is within the regional HERs and the Curatorial Archaeologists are crucial to the maintenance of this knowledge.

The project data collection methodology

The archaeological research for this project is divided into two phases: firstly a general HER data collection and secondly, two more focused case studies where we will extend the research to begin to look at assemblages and objects more specifically. Currently we are still within the first phase of work, having collected data for 9 out of our 12 initial county searches and having sifted through 7 datasets. Yorkshire is slightly different as there are four local authorities within the county and therefore six datasets; the four Ridings and the two National Parks.

The process of gathering data for this project is long. In the first instance I have been contacting HER officers for the areas we have identified for study. I am primarily interested in excavations as I am gathering data on objects retrieved through excavation work. This means that when it comes to sifting the data I can discount certain records immediately, reducing the size of the dataset quickly. I then check each record to see if it is relevant. For those that are, I then search to see if the report is available online through the ADS grey literature library. In some cases monographs have been published detailing the results of the excavations and I am able to use the data within these. There have, however, been examples where the grey literature report contains more information than the published monograph and in these cases I use both resource to make sure I have as near complete a record as is available through these publications.

Following this I then finally read each report, checking whether there is a finds report and if not making sure that it explicitly says that no finds were discovered during the excavation. In cases where medieval archaeology has been identified, such as field systems and buildings but with no associated finds, I keep that record as the absence of objects is just as important as the presence. Where finds are present I then record these in the project database, including details such as who wrote the report as well as phasing data and feature type that the objects have been retrieved from.

To date (Dec 2017), within the database there are 1599 objects. A lot of these entries are nails and unidentified iron fragments but there are also identifiable objects from brooches to boxes. This initial search will continue into next year (2018) and thanks to areas like Norfolk where there is so much data this phase will take a little more time to complete. However, by the time this is completed we will have gathered data from 12 different counties and in theory all the medieval objects that were found in these areas through excavation will be recorded in the database. In theory.

Thanks to Kevin Wooldridge for checking the introduction and making the appropriate edits to ensure accuracy.