Prologue

Before delving into the software overview, a few words about the uniqueness of the archaeological record seem appropriate.

The archaeological record is unlimited in scope, and typically partial and open to interpertations. It may vary in scope from a complete settlment, to a single structure or a single flint blade or pottery sherd. How this totality may be reduced into a publication or database is a theoretical matter beyond the scope of these notes.

Here, (as mentioned in Core Ideas section), we follows traditional excavation reports structure but limit ourselves to the recording of the small finds and their immediate provenience. We suggest that the stratigriphal and architectural sections may benefit from database and software use, but the requirements from such software are beyond the scope of this project.

Never the less, the software offers many advantages over a printed publication and may be useful to specialists, researchers and the public at large.

The following pages discuss some key concepts related to the archaeological record and describe how they were implemented in the code.