Data from archaeological surveys available for research as FAIR data
Archaeological excavations in Sweden are now almost exclusively documented using digital technology, but the preservation of digital documentation has lagged behind. Therefore, there is a significant risk that excavations from the 21st century will not be able to be studied in the future and that large amounts of digital information will be lost. To address this, the Urdar project was created.
The project has developed methods and technology to convert archaeological field documentation created in the Intrasis program into archive-compliant formats, while also ensuring the quality of the content. The work has been based on the so-called FAIR data principles for open science, meaning that research data should be searchable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
The Urdar project is the most comprehensive effort to date to make digital archaeological field documentation accessible in Sweden. Thanks to the project, GIS data from over 3,000 archaeological assignments has now been secured for the future and made available for advanced analysis. The project is funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) and has been led by Daniel Löwenborg, researcher and university lecturer at the Department of Archaeology, Ancient History, and Conservation, with Åsa M Larsson from the Swedish National Heritage Board as deputy project manager.
- The society's need for new buildings and roads often means that archaeological sites, our shared cultural heritage, need to be removed. However, in order to remove an archaeological site, it must be investigated by archaeologists. The documentation created during the archaeological investigation essentially replaces the site, which is an irreversible process. Therefore, it is very important that the documentation becomes as useful as possible, says Daniel Löwenborg.
- Since both investigations and research now rely on digital methods and techniques, it is important to make the most of the advantages they offer. Therefore, it is now gratifying that we can start making this data accessible.
The data files from the Urdar project are archived by the Swedish National Heritage Board and can be searched for and ordered through the digital service Arkivsök.
- The Swedish National Heritage Board is the authority for cultural heritage and cultural environments, and we actively work to ensure that cultural heritage is both preserved and used. We also hold Sweden’s oldest and most comprehensive archive of archaeological investigations. It is very exciting that digital documentation from investigations carried out by our previous archaeological operations is now secured and made available according to good digital practices. This has been a very educational project that could not have been carried out without extensive research and development efforts, says Åsa Larsson, Head of Unit at the Swedish National Heritage Board.
Parts of the Urdar project have continued within the national research infrastructure Swedigarch, to ensure that GIS data from more excavations can be used. It is now also possible to access the data via the new digital mapping service AGES, which is being developed by Uppsala University within Swedigarch, funded by the Swedish Research Council and the participating organizations.
- When data of these volumes and levels of detail become available, many exciting research areas are made possible that were scarcely imaginable before," says Daniel Löwenborg. "We can expect many interesting research results in the future, especially as we simultaneously gain better opportunities to work with large amounts of data through various types of machine learning techniques. What is particularly promising are large-scale analyses of landscapes and societal development, where we will have better opportunities to understand the broader perspectives of how culture, religion, economy, resource use, and society change over time, and are influenced by climate change, migrations, and much more
- Within Swedigarch, we will continue the work of making data from many more excavations available in AGES, and the hope is that digital measurements and data files will be included when new excavations are reported in the future.
The national infrastructure Swedigarch is led by Uppsala University, in collaboration with the universities of Umeå, Stockholm, Karlstad, Gothenburg, and Lund, as well as the Swedish National Heritage Board and the Swedish Historical Museums. Within the infrastructure, several different datasets are made available, such as finds, analyses from historical DNA and other natural science methods, as well as 3D models. Overall, the aim is to enable new data-driven research on the interaction between humans and the environment.
More information about Swedigarch and AGES can be found at: https://swedigarch.se/index.php/swedigarch/resources/ages/
The Urdar project's data at the Swedish National Heritage Board's Arkivsök:
