Hella HOLLANDER
(DANS, The Hague, The Netherlands)
Keywords: Archaeological data, archiving, publication, access
Abstract:
In the Netherlands, the archiving and publication of archaeological research data has led to the establishment of the e-Depot for Dutch Archaeology (EDNA) http://www.edna.nl/, accommodated at DANS http://dans.knaw.nl/en. EDNA is a collaboration between DANS and the Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE). DANS is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
The slogan “Digital archaeology requires a digital memory” was used in recent years to bring care for digital data to the attention of Dutch archaeologists. The e-depot ensures durable archiving and unlocking of all digital documentation of the archaeological research. By 2013, DANS provides online access https://easy.dans.knaw.nl to more than 20,000 datasets: 17,000 archaeological reports and 3,000 large datasets consisting of data of excavations and explorations (photos, GIS, data-tables, drawings). Both the research descriptions and all data can be downloaded via the online archiving system EASY.
Agreements to this end have been laid down in the quality standard for Dutch archaeology. DANS ensures that access to digital research data keeps improving, through its services and by taking part in national and international projects and networks. By participating in projects such as Odyssee, CARARE, ARIADNE and DARIAH, the options for finding, accessing and re-using archaeological and other data are continuously improving. DANS stimulates cooperation between data producers and users and does research into long-term accessibility.
The existing infrastructure of the e-depot for Dutch Archaeology allows for sharing of good practices such as long-term preservation, data organisation and data dissemination for accessibility.