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Date: | Sat, 28 May 2005 22:29:27 -0400 |
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Why not just call it a cup - forget the "tea?"
This thread has meandered away from Mike's original inquiry. As to meeting
curation guidelines, each facility has their own minimum standards. I have
dealt with many throughout the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and East Coast and found
no two are the same. Some can be quite detailed. My suggestion is to look
for the most detailed guidelines (among the curation facilities that you use)
and use their guidelines as your standard.
Regarding functional classification - In my experience, artifacts should be
coded by their original intent unless other archaeological evidence indicates
otherwise. For example, marble stopper from a Codd bottle is a stopper
unless found with a cluster of marbles, which was the case on a site where we
found a marble cache in an under floor deposit.
Categories (fields for database users) should be made a simple as possible.
Mike used the example "ironstone, undecorated," to which I suggest there are
two different types of attributes listed in his one example and they should
be in two separate categories - one for ware and the other for decoration.
Again using Mike example, "rim, sherd, bowl" In the first place rim and bowl
are two different categories of attributes. "Bowl" is the shape. "Rim" is the
portion of the item. In 30 years I have never used the term "sherd" in an
artefact catalogue - try body, marley, cavetto, base or even fragment. And an
undecorated ironstone "sherd" definitely has attributes. If the shape can't
be determined, one might be able to tell if it is hollow ware or flat ware.
Or it could be just a body fragment. Is it a lead or alkaline glaze? If it
is semi-vitreous isn't it another ware type?
Good luck on designing a computer application that will automatically link
to TPQ and TAQ information. What if you have a bottle with a TPQ of 1820, a
bottle manufacturer with a TPQ of 1855 and the embossment on the bottle is for
a company with an 1875 TAQ?
E. Jeanne Harris
Urban Analysts
North Sydney NSW
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