1. Internet Archaeology: a study in
links, levels and layers
Judith Winters
Editor
Internet Archaeology
http://intarch.ac.uk

2. Archaeological publishing
1900-1950
Publication seen as an integral part of archaeological excavation
1960s and 1970s
Shift from exhaustive to selective publication. Primary record is archive
rather than the publication
Today
Great variation in publication policy across the discipline
Greater integration between description and interpretation

4. Internet Archaeology
• issue 1 published in 1996
• peer-reviewed content
• international - no chronological restrictions
• no print equivalent
• text, data, images, VRML, QTVR, SVG, video,
sound,
• archived by Archaeology Data Service

5. http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/

6. Journal background
1995 - 3 year grant from eLib programme
1998 - grant extension
2000 - subscriptions (institutional and individual),
publication subventions, advertising
2007 – JISC ‘Open Access’ agreement for UK
Higher and Further Education institutions

7. Enriching archaeology
• 21st century archaeology is ‘born digital’
• a like-minded medium
• data
• addresses concerns about dissemination and multi-
vocality
• facilitates the opening up of our work and our
interpretations to critical inquiry, immediately and on
a global scale

9. The Development of the Clay Tobacco Pipe Kiln in the
British Isles. Issue 1

10. The Development of the Clay Tobacco Pipe Kiln in the
British Isles. Issue 1

11. The Ave Valley Survey, Northern Portugal. Issue 9

12. Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian Cottam: linking digital
publication and archive. Issue 10

13. The LEAP project
• Linking Electronic Archives and Publications
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/leap/
• Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research
Council (AHRC) under the ICT Strategy
Programme
• To investigate ways in which electronic
publication can provide broad access to research
findings and make underlying data available in such
a way so that readers are enabled to 'drill down'
seamlessly into online archives to test
interpretations and develop their own

14. Changing Settlements and Landscapes: Medieval Whittlewood, its
Predecessors and Successors. Issue 19

22. Joining the Dots: Continuous Survey, Routine Practice and the
Interpretation of a Cypriot Landscape. Issue 20

32. Silchester Roman Town Insula IX: The Development of
an Urban Property c. AD 40-50 - c. AD 250

37. The landscapes of Islamic Merv, Turkmenistan. Issue 25

38. Features
• allows users to explore the links between interpretation and
underlying data through a variety of interfaces (maps, plans)
• article still interprets the site in the light of the original
research agenda and ‘tells a story’
• data is made available and linked to the interpretation so that
users can examine the assumptions upon which the
interpretations rest
• multiple pathways through the text into and out of archive

39. Preservation issues
Digital data is fragile
• no changes post-publication
• hardware and software changes
• ongoing maintenance (migration) of content
(especially databases/GIS)
• formats (web standards) - prioritises content
rather than presentation
Shared infrastructure with ADS

40. Production issues
• flexible, responsive approach – rights,
commissioning content, keeping options
open, no rigid template
• appropriate standards - interoperability
and longevity, standard file formats,
metadata, storage media and delivery
systems

41. Dialogue
• increased editorial contact results in a flexible final
publication.
• authors have a greater say in the editing and
presentation.

42. Engagement
• authors
– more connected to their data - “I had to come off the
fence and say what I thought it all really meant”
– scrutiny of data during editorial process
• readers
– ability to respond (discussion list and articles)
– potential of drawing other conclusions. More ‘active’
users of data.
• data rich
– complements authorship

43. Structure
• provides the reader with different levels of
information
• information no longer split across several
publications

44. – integrated e-publications are based on
interaction, hypertext linking, navigation,
search, and connections to other online
resources. Capabilities that allow for much
more powerful user experiences than a linear
flow of text.

45. – integrated e-publications are more than
‘literate’
oral’ characteristics are re-introduced -
immediacy, eliminate distance, extra-
textual content, social relationships
no longer just imparting information
but allows greater capacity for individual
participation and interaction.

46. Impact on archaeological research
Electronic publication is shaping how projects
develop - what we photograph, how we record in
the field, what we record and to what level of detail,
what we excavate...

47. Implications
• boundaries are blurred
• integrating text with data, evidence with
interpretation: creates a new dialectic
• explicit interrogation - an active, ‘used’ and visible
archive
• shifts publication back towards data
• affects archaeological practice and the narratives we
create

48. The future
• Subscriptions
• Subventions
• Delivery technologies
• Widening profile - collaboration
• Extending LEAP model

49. Internet Archaeology: a study in
links, levels and layers
Judith Winters
Editor
Internet Archaeology
http://intarch.ac.uk
editor@intarch.ac.uk