Specify for Archaeology: A Proposed Data Model for Archaeological Collection Database Management

Abstract

Archaeological databases are one of the most significant research resources for archaeologists. The databases currently available commercially were not designed for archaeological collections and are not optimal for documentation of archaeological data. Specify Software has created software that effectively documents the collection data of natural history collections for over 400 collections world-wide. This software could also be effective for archaeological collections as well if it were adapted for archaeological collections. This thesis examines how the software could be adapted in order to proficiently document archaeological data as well. In order to ascertain how Specify must be adapted, I determined the database requirements of an archaeological collection by reviewing excavation procedures and interviewing archaeologists about their current database systems. I examine the differences between database requirements for biological and archaeological collections and define the changes that must be made to the current Specify data model. I propose a new data model that will efficiently document archaeological data. I use raw archaeological data to evaluate how the proposed data model will work with archeological data.