Silchester insula IX

Project start date: 1998-05 Project end date: 2008-06
The project's aim is the capture, storage and manipulation of data from a long-term archaeological excavation (1997 and continuing) of insula ix of the Iron Age and Roman town of Silchester, Hampshire (Calleva Atrebatum). The data comprise a variety of linked excavation and finds records which are stored on the Integrated Archaeological Database (IADB). The latter is a key tool for the post-excavation analysis of this complex, stratified site for which publication is planned in both printed and web-based formats. A key aim is to make all the excavation and finds records accessible via the web and to use the IADB record as a primary source for all publications.
Subject domains: 
Country/region(s): 
Methods usedCategory
2d modelling - vectorData structuring and enhancement
2d Scanning and photographyData capture
Coding and standardisationData structuring and enhancement
IndexingData analysis
Graphical renderingData structuring and enhancement
Heads-up digitising and interactive tracingData capture
Text encoding - descriptiveData structuring and enhancement
Text encoding - presentationalData structuring and enhancement
Text encoding - referentialData structuring and enhancement
Record linkagesData analysis
Searching and queryingData analysis
SpatialContent types
archaeologyDiscipline
textContent types
Funding sources: 
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Content types created: 
Dataset/structured data, Spatial, Still Image/Graphics, Text
Software tools used: 
Javascript, MySQL, PHP, IADB
Source material used:  
Data from a long-term archaeological excavation (1997 and continuing) of insula ix of the Iron Age and Roman town of Silchester, Hampshire (Calleva Atrebatum). The data comprise a variety of linked excavation and finds records which are stored on the Integrated Archaeological Database (IADB).
Digital resource created:  
All parts of the archive produced by the Silchester excavation and post-excavation analysis are stored in the Integrated Archaeological Database (IADB). This includes primary records of all Finds and Contexts recorded during the excavations, including text descriptions, photographs, illustrations, scale plans, and stratigraphic relationship matrices. Secondary records called Sets, Groups, Phases and Objects, each representing various levels of abstraction and synthesis from the primary records, are created and stored within the IADB.
Access to digital resource:  
Open Access
Data Formats created: 
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), JPEG File Interchange Format (JPG), Microsoft Excel Worksheet (XLS), Microsoft Word Document (DOC), MySQL, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
Publications:  
Clarke, A., Fulford, M., Rains, M. & Shaffrey, R. (2001)
The Victorian Excavations of 1893
Silchester Roman Town - The Insula IX Town Life Project
(http://www.silchester.reading.ac.uk/victorians)

Clarke, A., Fulford, M. and Rains, M. (2003) Nothing to hide - online database publication and the Silchester Town Life Project In CAA 2002. The Digital Heritage of Archaeology. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Proceedings of the 30th Conference, Heraklion, Crete, April 2002 (Eds. Doerr, M. and Sarris, A.) Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Greece, pp. 401-404.

Clarke, A., Eckardt, H., Fulford, M., Rains, M and Tootell, K., 2005. Silchester Roman Town. The Insula IX 'Town Life' Project: The Late Roman Archaeology.
(http://www.silchester.reading.ac.uk/later)

Institutions affiliated with this project: 

UK HE institutions involved:
University of Reading
UK HE institutions involved:
York Archaeological Trust

Project staff and expertise: 

Principal staff member:Professor Michael Gordon Fulford; Mrs Amanda Clarke; Mr Michael Rains
Other staff:Postdoctoral researcher(s) / Research assistant(s)
External expertise:


Metadata on this arts-humanities.net record
Author(s) of recordMichael Rains
TitleSilchester insula IX
Record created2005-11-07
Record updated2010-06-09 15:41
URL of recordhttp://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2104
Citation of recordMichael Rains: Silchester insula IX.
<http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2104>
created: 2005-11-07, last updated 2010-06-09 15:41