Archaeologists, Hunter-Gatherers of Digital Data

Abstract

The rapid advancement of digital technologies has paved the way for a revolution in archaeological documentation. Since digital cameras, tablets, portable printers, drones, and other technical gadgets have become readily available and easily replaceable, this sensitive electronic equipment has become a much more common sight at excavation sites. In the not so distant past, information about small finds or stratigraphic units had to be documented on paper and later manually transferred into digital formats. The data was stored and processed using various programs, many of which were less than ideal for the task. Indeed, the process of digitalising the data was itself suboptimal and a source of many hours of extra work, which carried significant financial consequences. To alleviate these issues, we began developing a specialised program that would enable entering and combining data from different work phases and ultimately produce reports directly usable in final site publications. Enter Zoot, a database interface for entering and retrieving data such as lists, photos, 3D site models, small find details. It can process data, perform calculations, and prepare exports intended for further processing with more specialised programs. Zoot provides a framework for keeping track of and linking all graphical documentation (photos, drawings, models ...), small finds, and samples with the primary excavation documentation. In addition, it supports the direct retrieval of data for GIS and statistical processing. Most importantly, the program is a paperless solution designed to shorten the time of writing reports as it automatically generates catalogues (e.g. of small finds, graves). This enables researchers such as us faster data evaluation, and ultimately leads to more affordable and timely publications of our work.