Ecus’ archaeological archivist discusses a range of daily challenges and highlights in his role.
What does an archaeological archivist do?
Being the archaeological archivist at Ecus presents a range of daily challenges whilst ensuring that material recovered during our excavations is properly archived for our clients and made available for future generations. This can involve the archiving of digital data resulting from small pieces of work with limited results, to large multi-phase sites with tens of thousands of artefacts. When work is underway on multiple or larger projects, each day can be rather hectic, and considerably different.
What happens during a typical day for an archaeological archivist?
A typical day starts with a check of the emails for queries concerning archived, or to archive projects and assisting Project Managers through what is usually the final stages of their projects’ life. After this, I check the archive tracker to determine which projects have the highest priority and get work underway. This could provisionally include drafting letters to be sent to landowners to transfer ownership of the archeological material to a museum, contacting museums to determine if they wish to accept the physical archive, costing for the deposition of both the physical and data archives or rationalising both physical and digital archives in preparation for deposition.
Throughout all of this, I need to be mindful that our archives are prepared to national standards, and the specific requirements of the museum. This typically means separating objects and material types for museum deposition, and those that may be discarded, whilst maintaining thorough records throughout. A great part of the process is that I get to see and handle a wide range of artefacts from pots of all ages to prehistoric stone axes, Iron Age swords, and Roman brooches and coins. Not all the material is ancient, with archaeological works often focused on more recent remains, such as an Edward VII Coronation medal or the occasional golf ball.
Overall, the best part of being an archivist is the knowledge that your role is to preserve our cultural heritage for future generations, and that something you have archived will be the inspiration for a future generation.
