Wessex Archaeology's Flickr page

[Big Les]

Those of you who've seen Time Team may have heard of the British commercial archaeology outfit Wessex Archaeology. I was impressed to discover that they've been publishing their excavation and small finds photos on Flickr.com.

A lot to wade through, but so very cool and forward thinking of them to do in an age when most museums (in the UK at least) still only have a fraction of their collections online in any useful/interesting form (understandably given their public funding and/or limited resources).

 

[Nick Bogaerts]

A lot to wade through, but so very cool and forward thinking of them to do in an age when most museums (in the UK at least) still only have a fraction of their collections online in any useful/interesting form (understandably given their public funding and/or limited resources).

More than you'd know. They're not very good at advertising these things, but I know at the very least the archeological trusts of Wales (the Glamorgan-Gwent, Clwyd-Powys, Dyfed and the Gwynedd Archaeological Trusts), the Highlands Council, and the City of York Council all have their Historic Environment Records online. My previous, ill-fated employer and myself may have had something to do with it... In surface, that's nearly half of the U.K. There's probably more out there.

So yes, there is a huge amount of information publically available online, though its not all that easy to get to, because, while they're quite happy to help legitimate researchers, they also want to avoid having swarms of treasure hunters trampling around fragile historical sites with their metal-detectors. ('Outreach' was what the Lottery Fund called it, not something local governments are particularly good at.)

But yeah, there's a lot more that could be done. But archaeologists are usually not the wealthiest people around (most of our projects were funded by lottery grants), and there is definitely some IT opportunities for in the heritage industry, but it isn't easy.

 

[Big Les]

I'm in the museum sector, and the OP link alone puts all four museums (one trust, one regional, two nationals) I've worked in to shame. Seems like it's easier for a commercial group to achieve than the guys with the actual public obligation to provide access. Of course museum archaeology depts are constrained by the same infrastructure etc as the historical and science ones - were they independent they would surely be doing something like this. Again, not having a go at my lot (public sector is always tough), just chuffed that my old lot (my first degree was archaeology) are doing well at it.

 

[mumchup]

I loved the Time Team show when I had BBC America. Thanks, now I can "check in" with them again.