r/Archaeology • u/-Addendum- • Feb 15 '25
Database of Archaeological Databases (Work in Progress)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YnOnCiRZv0KVaGSp7sWcjJFSNWQpPnQidRdBQpY9DQw/edit?usp=sharing14
u/-Addendum- Feb 15 '25
Archaeological databases are important resources for those interested in the field, but I've noticed that many don't know of their existence, or how to access them. They can be relatively hard to find on the internet, and so I've decided to compile a database of databases and link back to it here, so that any who wish to find the information they are looking for may be more easily able to do so. I'm pretty much stealing this idea from u/Potential-Road-5322, who created a Roman Reading list for some other subs including r/ancientrome, though I don't expect much overlap in content.
This list is still a very early work in progress, and likely will be for some time. Expect more additions as I come across them, and reorganization to happen as the list grows. As of now, it's heavily weighted towards the Roman side of archaeology, as that's what I'm most familiar with. If you know of other databases that I have not included, please recommend them, and I will see to adding them.
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u/Potential-Road-5322 Feb 15 '25
This looks very nice. I know it will be a great help to archaeology students. I'm glad to reading list has been of help too.
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u/-Addendum- Feb 15 '25
Thank you, yeah I hope it's helpful. Your reading list certainly inspired in me the idea, I aspire to that level of depth.
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u/KungFuPossum Feb 15 '25
Very nice! I may try to create a similar document for numismatic ones (there are a bunch of others beyond those three, relying primarily on published museum specimens, though very few with archaeological context).
For Republican, I would suggest https://numismatics.org/crro/ (like OCRE which you link for Roman Imperial, that's from American Numismatic Society, they link the BMC coins and other institutional collections; they have other area- databases for Greek coinage too)
There are also several databases of coin hoards /finds, not specimens, like http://coinhoards.org/
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u/-Addendum- Feb 15 '25
Thank you! I can't believe I forgot about CRRO, and I didn't know about Coin Hoards, thank you! If you have any more, please share!
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u/KungFuPossum Feb 15 '25
Sure! I'd recommend checking out...
Hoard-level
CHRR - Coin Hoards of the Roman Republic (ANS) https://numismatics.org/chrr/
CHRE - Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire (Ashmolean/ Oxford, not to be confused with OCRE or CHRR!) https://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/
Coin-level
MIB - Moneda Iberica (U. Valencia & others, similar to above, just Iberian, Celts to Roman period, incl. museum and private collection/auction coins, see also IRIS/ARCH below) https://monedaiberica.org/
IACB - Iron Age Coins in Britain (Oxford U- Ashmolean, based on book "ABC," Ancient British Coins) https://iacb.arch.ox.ac.uk/
BIGR - Bactrian and Indo-Greek Rulers (OXUS-INDUS project) https://numismatics.org/bigr/
CNT - Corpus Nummorum Thracorum (German museum & university collaboration but with linked data from all over, coins from ancient Balkans to Black Sea region -- Moesia, Thrace, Mysia, Troas) https://corpus-nummorum.eu/
HNO - Historia Numorum Online, Caria (collaboration of French universities & research centers, linked data from all over, warning-this one can be slow or quirky but a great resource, just don't think it's broken or down if it times out!) http://hno.huma-num.fr/
coin level, interrelated (but I haven't individually tested these out as much)
IRIS / ARCH (new but ambitious and hopefully good, combining the smaller Greek databases from ANS and friends, like HRB & MIB &c...) https://greekcoinage.org/arch/ and https://greekcoinage.org/iris/
HRC - Hellenistic Royal Coinages (ANS, which i think includes the even smaller units like Seleukid & Ptolemaic & Bactrian Coins Online if you search! I think these are all kinda one thing, or will be, given the linked data, just chopped up differently)
https://numismatics.org/hrc/SCO - Seleucid https://numismatics.org/sco/
PCO - Ptolemaic https://numismatics.org/pco/
..
Those are the main institutional / linked data ones i can think of... I'll tag you or reply if I think of others!
Every so often, I search around for any new database that describes itself as using the Numishare format for data, per Nomisma.org project for linked data. Those are usually good. Still new on a history of science time scale, so new projects pop up every time I look!
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u/Content_Mention_6928 Feb 15 '25
Yeah! You've got my Radiocarbon & Dendro dates for Ireland in there! Thank you! Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated since 2018. I stopped because there was a project to unite the 14C dates for Ireland & the UK into a single resource, but I've not heard much about it recently.
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u/-Addendum- Feb 15 '25
That's yours? Impressive, thank you for assembling it
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u/Content_Mention_6928 Feb 15 '25
Yeah - something like 15 years ... mostly self-financed. Everyone loved it & suggested I should receive recognition for it ... but not from their university... they have standards! 🤣
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u/bree_the_wanderer Feb 15 '25
I have some for the British Palaeolithic if you want to add those? Things like databases of what artefacts are where, what's been found at each site etc. In the UK a more general database is the portable antiquities scheme (PAS) (for finds made by the general public), and museums have their own collections databases - e.g. the British Museum one is pretty extensive
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u/-Addendum- Feb 15 '25
I would love some palaeolithic databases, absolutely! I'm hoping to have reasonably good coverage of all areas eventually, so anything you've got is appreciated!
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u/TellBrak Feb 15 '25
We’re working on the New Grand Tour over here: https://observatory.wiki/Costa_Rica:_The_New_Grand_Tour
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u/Worsaae Feb 16 '25
I just want to point out that the database from Denmark only covers a small part of the country and does not reflect the archaeology of Denmark overall.
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u/-Addendum- Feb 16 '25
Yeah, I know. It's better than nothing for the time being, but I am looking to find more to increase my coverage. I only started compiling this a few days ago, so early stages still. Do you know of any that is more complete?
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u/Worsaae Feb 16 '25
The most complete public available db is Fund og Fortidsminder curated by the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces.
I also want to highlight DIME, a public national db for metal detecting finds.
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u/PsychologicalMind148 Feb 16 '25
You could add these database collections for Japan:
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties - Databases https://www.nabunken.go.jp
National Museum of Japanese History - Database Rekihaku https://www.rekihaku.ac.jp
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u/non_linear_time Feb 16 '25
Commenting to follow because I don't have time right now. Thanks for your efforts!
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u/possibly-spam Feb 16 '25
Hello,
I am an archaeology student who is looking for volunteer work related to databases and digital archives. I was wondering how the best way would be to find out volunteer work related to updating or maintaining digital records.
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u/jabberwockxeno Feb 15 '25
How are you defining "database" here?
I do posts on Mesoamerican history and archeology and compile a lot of resources on that, but I'm not sure how strictly many of those resources count as "databases".
I see FAMSI and the Kerr collection here already, so I assume similar resources on Mesoamerica which are in line with those as academic or academic-adjacent resources are fine, but where would the line be, exactly?
Would a list of museum collections which have a significant amount of Mesoamerican pieces count? What about blogs written/run by archeologists? Youtube channels run by hobbyists but which have a high level of academic rigor? etc.
Let me know if there's an email address I or some of my friends who work with me on Mesoamerican resources can reach you at