Ann Degraeve / David Bibby
(1Heritage Direction, Ministry of the Brussels, Belgium / Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, Germany)

Abstract:
This project, carried by 8 partners from 7 different countries, is funded by the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013 – Strand 1.2.1. Cooperation measures of European Commission (Agreement number 2012-1399/001-001). It started on June 2012 and runs till May 2014. The purpose of the project, born within the Archaeological Archiving Working Party of the European Archaeological Council (EAC) (http://www.european-archaeological-council.org/) is to agree a European standard that will benefit cultural heritage practice and management in Europe and to produce a best practice manual and twinned web presence for the creation, compilation, transfer and curation of the products of European archaeology.
Archaeological archives consist of all material deemed worthy of retention generated by any type of archaeological project. This includes the historic artefacts as well as the written, drawn, and photographic records and the digital data about the site and its associated finds collection. The successful preservation of the archive for the future benefit of the people of Europe depends on the implementation of best practice in creating, compiling, transferring and curating the results of every archaeological project.
The proposed manual will bring together the recommendations of the country and state-specific standards and guidance documents, provide standards where none currently exist, and provide guidance for implementation of shared best practice in all the participating countries. The EAC Archaeological Archiving Working Party will guarantee the sustainability of the manual and web presence thus ensuring that they remain current and relevant and will motivate the formal adoption of the standards recommended in the manual and web presence by the EAC itself as a means of monitoring good practice in the management of archaeological archives.
For more information see: http://www.european-archaeological-council.org/13-0-Archives.html and http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/arches/Wiki.jsp?page=Main