A Database of Early Medieval Archaeological Excavations in Ireland, 1930-2004
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EARLY MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT (EMAP) Report 2.3 A Database of Early Medieval Archaeological Excavations in Ireland, 1930-2004 Rob Sands, Lorcan Harney, Thomas Kerr & Mikie O'Sullivan December 2008 UCD School of Archaeology Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Programme 2008 A Database of Early Medieval Archaeological Excavations in Ireland, 1930-2004 Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP) Report 2.3 Report to INSTAR 2008 UCD School of Archaeology/School of Geography, Palaeoecology and Archaeology, QUB/CRDS/ACS December 2008 1 Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP) Database and Portal for Archaeological Research in Ireland Introduction This short report outlines the aims, progress so far and the vision of the database development and on-line manifestation of EMAP. From a research standpoint the EMAP project has primarily been serviced by a desk based database. This has proved to be effective and continues to be the core basis for reporting and accumulation. INSTAR funding has enabled research into and implementation of an on-line version of this core database. In creating this facility greater cognizance has had to be made of multiple users, data integration and appropriate data models. Although the data model is now fixed, interfaces have been written, hosting secured and testing is in progress, in many respects this is on- going research with a number of implications that extend beyond the project itself. Aims As part of the broader EMAP aims, the EMAP portal has a core set of parallel aims and requirements: • To identify and store existing Early Medieval information contained in existing digital and paper archives. • To store sufficient data to allow these resources to be identified, collated and enumerated. • To facilitate domain experts in adding value to existing data. • To identify and classify existing bibliographic information. • To create a central hub for Early Medieval Research in Ireland. • To enable dissemination to other researchers and interested members of the public. EMAP database phase 1 developments Phase 1 of the on-line manifestation of EMAP has been successfully implemented, a web site has been designed and a domain name acquired (http://www.emap.ie). At this phase of the project an on-line database structure has been developed and on-line interfaces produced to allow multiple researchers to accumulate and add value to structured data. In creating the on-line environment it has been necessary to critically and extensively re-evaluate the underlying data model used during the assessment phase for EMAP (financed under a previous heritage council grant) as a consequence of this some re-entry of data has been necessary in order to ensure longer term flexibility1. 1 See EMAP Report 1 for full discussion of the original database 2 3 In order for the system to operate it has also been necessary to accumulate and store locally key data that is also held elsewhere (a combination of key information from excavations.ie and archaeology.ie). Currently EMAP is designed to combine pre-existing data with re-evaluations and consistent information tagging by domain experts, the system has been developed to track additions and store change history. Crucially the system stores key unique identifiers to external data, in particular license number, SMR number and SMR sub- number, allowing for future adaption and concordance with National data sets. EMAP Data System Overview Rationale In essence the core data focused part of the EMAP system sees the archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland in terms of five interlocking areas: 1. Archaeological intervention events (expressed as licenses for all post-1930 events) these represent instances of archaeological activity. This data is not currently available as a data feed so the EMAP project has sifted the available data for relevant activity and captured the core data within the first desk based EMAP system. 2. Archaeological places and activities – these are relevant features of Early Medieval Ireland found in reports and other sources. These records are short and allow for the flexible enumeration of key finds and past activities. 3. Archaeological places held within the National Monuments Record – these are relevant places that have an official national recognition and which often provide the official framework for 2. The records held here are crucial in order to allow matches to be made with centrally held information. 4. Bibliographic collections – EMAP has amassed a large bibliography of relevance to the Early Medieval Period in Ireland. These have been amassed using EndNote software - Endnote can produce standard XML output and a mechanism for import and export of this format within the EMAP portal is being developed. 5. Reports and grey literature – A mechanism for uploading reports and grey literature held in PDF format is part of the EMAP portal. These reports can be cross searched within the system and will provide a key resource. In addition to the data and documents the system is also designed to allow selected researchers to easily update the public pages of the site, this includes individual page contents as well as news and a calendar of events. 4 Technological base EMAP uses MySQL as its database and PhP (utilising Ajax frameworks) as its programming base. This provides a very cost effective, stable solution. Hosting is outsourced for a reasonable annual fee. Data efficiencies, connections and broader visions As mentioned above EMAP currently stores information that is also held elsewhere. Monuments are really the core data provider and ongoing discussions have demonstrated that for the time being some data redundancy is necessary. It is hoped that in future EMAP, and projects like EMAP, will have a more dynamic relationship with key data providers. Discussion with Monuments have indicated that some early stage integration will emerge quite simply, albeit somewhat passively, by allowing EMAP to dynamically link to appropriate records within the Monuments data base – allowing users to see additional data held within monuments. Of course ideally data, comments and connections made within EMAP should also be accessible to someone looking at a particular site within archaeology.ie. However, this raises a potential point of failure common to grant funded projects with a digital dimension, they may not and often do not survive beyond the span of the direct funding. Consequently, a dynamic link from monuments to such projects runs the risk of linking to unstable functionality as projects burst into life and then dwindle. Monuments, and similar national facilities, have greater potential for longevity and consequently should be seen as the corner stones of accumulated knowledge. In order to harness the outcomes of such projects there needs to be a simple protocol allowing for relevant results to digitally packaged and held locally to the relevant national repository. Phase 1 of the EMAP project has allowed for these issues to be discussed using a real project example. EMAP can in many respects be considered to be a common challenge; we could replace Early Medieval with another time period or with another focus of interest (e.g. Neolithic, Bronze Age). In this regard, while we are still seeking definitive solutions to some aspects of the project, the lessons learned across the project’s lifetime will have more generic applicability. If this was to be articulated as a blue skies vision it would perhaps be most simply stated as follows: “Enabling domain experts to add layers of added value to existing and emerging national datasets through simple mechanisms” Put simply we might imagine this as the electronic equivalent of adding intelligent post-its to existing data – allowing for a dynamic accumulation of knowledge and connections within a particular domain. Conclusion In summary, the EMAP portal is developing into more than just an on-line database. EMAP is also raising more fundamental questions about the mechanisms through which information from multiple sources can be retrieved, digested, added to and appropriately disseminated in Irish archaeology. 5 NAME County EMAP_Class Category Significance Year Company License Type Route Scheme 1 Hoey's Court, Werburgh Street Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin General 1999/2003 Margaret Gowen 99E0228 Testing Development 1-2 Exchange Street Upper, Temple Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin Significant 2000 Margaret Gowen 00E0135 Testing Bar West Dam/Reservoir 1-2 Exchange Street Upper, Temple Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin Significant 2001 Margaret Gowen 01E1161 Monitoring Bar West Development 13 High Street, Wood Quay Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin General 1993 UCC 93E0022 Monitoring Development 13 High Street, Wood Quay Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin General 1989 OPW Testing Development 1-3 High Street, Wood Quay Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin Significant 1989 Margaret Gowen Rescue Development 14-15 Werburgh Street Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin Significant 2000 Margaret Gowen 99E0228 Testing Development 14-15 Werburgh Street Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin Significant 1999 Margaret Gowen 99E0651 Testing Development 16-18 Fishamble Street, Wood Quay Dublin Viking Urban Settlement Viking/Hiberno-Norse Dublin Significant 1994 ADS 94E138 Testing Development 16-18 Fishamble Street, Wood Quay