The Arcaeological Record

In this section we limit our discussion to the archaeological artifact.

The archaeological artifact is an elusive entity. For example, a ceramic artifact usually brings to mind a pottery sherd but it can also be a tile, an installation, a figurine or anything else identifiable or not. It may be unfinished, finished, used or reused. It may be the complete "thing" or a small fraction of it.

What we publish about an artifact also varies greatly. While non-indicative ceramic sherds will usually be thrown away and not mentioned in a report, some ceramic baskets will be described only as chronological indicators, while a sherd with an inscription will receive a totally different treatment.

Even the naive question: "How many artifacts were recovered?" can't generally be answered. Do we count non-indicative sherds? How do we account for a complete vessel smashed into hundreds of pieces?

In general, for lack of criteria, it is implicit that information published about artifacts is subjective, and ultimately in the discretion of the excavation director, following some form of vague regulations.

The registration of the artifacts varies from one excavation to another. Some excavation use running numbers, some add area codes, year, locus number, specific artifact codes or any combination of these.

How can we possibly design a system to store and retreive such varied data?