How to describe an archaeological object

Principles of object description
An audio description for a blind person
Replacing the object with a record
The PAS’s ‘shop window’

Relationship between text and images
If we’ve got an image, why do we need all this text?
Searching image labels is a very blunt tool giving imprecise results
The wrong image may be attached or the image may become detached
It makes the identifier look very closely and analytically at the object

Audiences and searchers There are many users of our data – HER officers, planners, finds specialists, students, finders, the general public Will all of the people interested in this object be able to find it again?

These will make records unfindable
Spelling and typing mistakes, e.g. broach, boarder, chaffing dish, seal matirx, etc.
The wrong object term being used, e.g. ‘strap fitting’ for a stirrup-strap mount
The wrong classification being used, e.g. ‘cruciform’ for a cross-shaped brooch or ‘equal-armed’ for an ansate brooch
Several terms used for the same concept, e.g. pierced, perforated, holed

These will make records unintelligible!
Information scattered about the record in a random order
Ambiguity in words or phrasing
Abbreviations and writing in note form
Too much jargon

KENT4547 FAHG-123AB4

LON-B3C3C1

SUSS-0DF748

Too much jargon

These are all ‘round’ but all must be described differently

Buns More buns

Bun-shaped… … or bun shaped objects on the PAS database

ESS-581F82

back reverse YORYM-1716A4

The first section is circular in section, but the second section has a rectangular section and the last section is triangular in section. Too many sections

LON-B3C3C1

LANCUM-593AA1 SWYOR-C16415 ‘ thin’ ‘ narrow’

“ two rows of small triangular indentations run along both longitudinal edges” - there are two rows, but not along both edges!

Too much jargon

Don’t copy something like this (NMS736): EPM Ae sword chape, double-concave attachment edge between central projection front and back, trefoils on sides pierced for attachment, traces of engraved linear decoration, knop at terminal, 42 x 30mm. Cf. de Reuck, no. 231.

Short descriptions for objects that exist in museum collections from Middle Harling, Norfolk (East Anglian Archaeology 74)

Measurements can need supporting information
(e.g. ‘Surviving length 42.4 mm, original length c. 60 mm; or 8.5 mm wide in the centre, tapering to 6.8 mm wide at either end)
Dates can need argument to back them up
(e.g. ‘this object type is most common in the 14th century, but the use of niello inlaid in a criss-cross pattern suggests a late 15th- if not early 16th-century date for this particular example’ or ‘Margeson (1993, no. 258) illustrates a similar object from a 17th-century context in Norwich’)
Completeness – it helps to know whether the break is fresh (showing possible recent agricultural damage) or worn (possibly broken in antiquity or showing long-term agricultural damage).
Material – for a copper-alloy and iron item, which parts are copper alloy and which parts iron?

‘ Oval shaped’ = oval ‘ Oval shaped in form’ = oval ‘ Triangular shaped’ = triangular, etc etc etc A medieval copper-alloy buckle. The buckle has a frame and plate. The buckle’s frame is oval. The oval frame has a straight bar. The straight bar is square in cross-section. On the straight bar is a copper-alloy pin. The pin has an open loop. etc etc etc ad nauseam! Avoid unnecessary words

SF-B236E4

LANCUM-3DF1F3

Anglo-Scandinavian stirrup terminal, NMS-364F65 Post-medieval book clasp, SF6153

Modern objects 1. The finder is desperate to get something on the database and you want to be kind 2. A good example of a difficult object, although not in itself intrinsically interesting 3. It has research potential GLO-6A97F0 BERK-600AC6 The usual cut-off date is c. 1700 AD, but there are exceptions: SF-083C15

LVPL-0B5F41 correct not correct! LVPL-340D82

How to describe an archaeological object

by hgeake on Nov 11, 2011

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How to describe an archaeological object — Presentation Transcript