Excavation Index for England

1908 Excavations at Avebury from NMR Publications Photographic Library © RCHME. Just one of over 48,000 archaeology projects recorded in the Excavation Index for England. (Click on the photograph to see a larger version.)

The Excavation Index (EI) is a guide to the archaeological excavations and interventions carried out in England since the earliest days of scientific archaeology, and an index to the location of the excavation archives and finds. It is part of the National Monuments Record, England's heritage archive. This archive contains over 12,000,000 items covering the archaeology and architecture of England including air photographs, historic and modern photographs, digital indices, and documents.

Compiled and updated since 1978, the EI currently comprises in excess of 48,000 records of events including excavations; evaluations; watching briefs (since 1960); geophysical surveys; fieldwork funded by English Heritage and its predecessors; and field observations (a recent addition, reflecting the frequency in the urban record of pre-watching brief recording). Events comprising purely desk-based assessments, fieldwalking, and building survey are not at present included.

The EI is updated with information from a wide range of published and non-published sources. Trawling of relevant journals, reports and monographs is augmented by direct data exchange with a number of contractors and curators across the country.

The EI fields supplied for each event to the Archaeology Data Service form a subset of the full computerised record held at the National Monuments Record and comprise:

• Event UID (the NMR's own identification number)
• Event Name
• Start Date and End Date
• County/District/Parish * (uses administrative boundaries prior to the introduction of unitary authorities from 1996 onwards)
• National Grid Reference * (to 1 kilometre)
• Paper Archive Location *
• Finds Location *
• Auspices *
• Period (uses terms listed in Recording England's Past: a Data Standard for the Extended National Archaeological Record RCHME/ACAO 1993)
• Type (uses terms listed in Thesaurus of Monument Types: a Standard for Use in Archaeological and Architectural Records RCHME/EH 1995)

Fields are completed where information is available. In the case of asterisked (*) fields there may be multiple entries in the main database, but only the first entry is included in the ADS data set at the current time. Where RCHME is cited as archive location this generally refers to a microfilm copy of the archive or an archived report.

Fuller information from the EI for all events is available from NMR Public Services. This includes a short description, list of sources, more detailed national grid references, the name and role of key personnel and funding agencies, and the complete list of archive holders. The EI acts in part as a national index to more detailed local records held by Sites and Monuments Records, Urban Archaeological Databases and others, and further information on such events will also be held by the relevant local curators.

The data set currently made available through the ADS remains under development. Period and Type information is not always displayed, and the total record has yet to be loaded. Please contact NMR Public Services if you would like a more recent version of the database checked.

The information on the computerised EI has been compiled from a variety of sources, some of which have not been verified, and no claim is made for the EI as a completely definitive record. Certain details on the Index may also have been superseded, for example where the locations of archives or finds have changed recently. We are therefore keen to receive feedback and corrections in respect of the information within the EI. We also wish to encourage the active submission of new data from any individuals or organisations carrying out invasive fieldwork in England, in order to maximise the currency and coverage of this unique national record. Corrections to data and new information should be sent to Mark Barratt, Signposting Team Leader, at the National Monuments Record Centre. You can telephone him on +44 (0)1793 414826 or an email for Mark Barratt can be submitted online, but be sure to include his name somewhere on the form.

Please contact the NMR Public Services Section if you have any queries about the EI records or require further information. All data provided from the Excavation Index is supplied for internal purposes or private research, and the user is not entitled to copy or reproduce information originating from the NMR in the public domain without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Text Copyright © RCHME 1998

Cite only: http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/newsletter/5blurbs/excav.html for this page, which was last modified by Paul Miller (email) on Monday, 08 August 2005. Copyright © 1996-2005 Archaeology Data Service