James,
 
Buying a database tool will give you the ability to create a customized package
- with a lot of work and many, many hours put into it.
 
We have a Windows product that can be adapted for each client starting at $900
for a single user artifact database. We can also provide a link to Surfer
(itself a $500+ program) for mapping. If you want to spend your time as an
archaeologist rather than as a programmer, give us a call or e-mail, and we can
send you some information. Either way I would be happy to talk to you about any
issues you may come across and how we have dealt with them. We hope to be at the
CNEHA meeting in Nova Scotia in the fall and the SHA's in January.
 
If you do plan to create your own database I would echo the sentiments that the
tool is less important, (though go with an accepted Windows relational database)
than the planning you initially put into it.
 
Mark Freeman - ACCS
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(804) 977 7591