LENGTHY POSTING:This discussion about standardizing terminology and
recording information is a public version of a private conversation
I've had with more than a few archaeologists over the past year.  I'm
convinced that there is enough commonality in what field archaeologists
do to be able to standardize the methods by which data is recorded and
have been looking for someone who has developed a handy site and object
recording database package to modify and sell commercially.

Every archaeological project of the past 30 years has had to develop
their own, whether it is a major multiyear project, a graduate student
survey, or a quick CRM jaunt. Surely, with all those thousands of
databases out there one of them is good enough so that not every
archaeologist has to reinvent the wheel each time they go into the
field. Furthermore, a standardized program, with some attempt at
standardizing the kinds of information collected and terms used, will
unquestionably help improve the work of novices (or professionals in a
rush) by providing them with a template to follow.

My clue that this kind of product is possible came from our (when I ran
AltaMira Press) partnership in developing a museum collections
management software called PastPerfect [www.museumsoftware.com]. Surely
museum collections have as much diversity and complexity as the standard
archaeological project. But a husband-wife team of a programmer and
registrar/curator was able to come up with a program that was
structured enough for novices yet flexible enough to handle a wide
array of objects and situations. It was tested by dozens of people in
the field to ensure that it reflected "best practices" in registration.
And it embedded a standardized nomenclature that covered a large
percentage of the objects that are commonly found in American museums.
The program is not for everyone, but it has been picked up by 4000
museums, which allows for more conformity in recording practices and
better ease in sharing data across institutions and on the web.

Surely archaeologists (or to narrow the field, Americanist
archaeologists) could do something similar. And I have no doubt that
there are a large handful of recording databases out there already
developed by people on this list that could be modified and used by
many others. If you have one, I'd like to hear from you. I think it
would be a service to the field if I could work with one of you to
develop this.

I know of at least one effort to do so in the past, but it was a decade
ago, very expensive and not very flexible. Given the improvement in
technology over the last decade, it should be time to try again.

Mitch Allen
Left Coast Press, Inc.
1630 N. Main St, #400
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
925 935-3380 phone and fax
www.LCoastPress.com
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