By Emma Jane O’Riordan, University of Reading
During the summer of 2007, the Roman town of Silchester, Hampshire was dragged into the 21st century as the trench went wireless! During the six-week training excavation for the University of Reading, the Virtual Environments for Research in Archaeology project (VERA) (http://vera.rdg.ac.uk/) began to trial the use of handheld technologies for on site data acquisition.
This was the first phase of a JISC funded collaboration between the Department of Archaeology and the School of Systems Engineering at the University of Reading and the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, UCL that will run until April 2009.
Image (above) from the SE area furnace, Silchester, with some random marks of unknown purpose, including the front paw bits of a little dog (adapted and reproduced with permission from VERA)
Image (top) a cherrypicker shot of site, Silchester (adapted and reproduced with permission from VERA)
The aim of the project is to provide archaeologists with a means to share their research and results before, during and after excavation. In order to do this, VERA will create advanced computer-based tools for data acquisition and management, as well as producing a standards compliant web portal with integrated tools for the user community.
Since the summer, the VERA team have been further developing the Integrated Archaeological Database system (IADB) that was originally produced at the York Archaeological Trust. The aim is to tailor the system to suit the needs of the various specialists on site at Silchester. They have also carried out user testing and evaluation of the technology and are in the process of developing training packages and methodologies to use with the specialists as well as on site in summer 2008.
To find further online resources reviewed by Intute click on these saved searches: archaeology; excavation (process); excavations (sites); research (primary sources, secondary sources); research centres and projects; databases; field recording.
You may also be interested in the downloadable (PDF) Internet Resources for Archaeology subject booklet produced by Intute: Arts and Humanities and the Archaeology Data Service at the University of York. If you would like to suggest further Limelight presentations please Comment below.
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