Stone in Archaeology

Stone in Archaeology: Towards a digital resource

http://www.arch.soton.ac.uk/Research/stone/stone.html

Introduction

The 'Stone in Archaeology' project has been funded by a three year Resource Enhancement Grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board to create an electronic catalogue of all archaeological stone known to have been exploited in Antiquity throughout the British Isles.

Project Outline

This unique new multidisciplinary digital resource in the field of lithic archaeology will incorporate an interrogatory searchable relational database which will be regularly updated, dynamic and available on the Internet via the Archaeology Data Service. The resource will be easy to use (being accessible to beginner/amateur or specialist alike) and will help to identify a rock sample, its geological formation and possible quarry location or vicinity by asking specific macroscopic and mineralogical questions. Visual images (including macroscopic and petrological photomicrographs) will supplement the rock descriptions and will be available for comparison. Furthermore, it is hoped that this resource will be manipulated in many different ways and answer specific questions about trade and exchange, movement of materials and distribution of stone by incorporating GIS into the database.

By creating this resource, it is hoped that it will improve the breadth and depth of archaeological knowledge in the field of lithics and beyond.

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