The Hungarian Archaeology Database

Abstract

In Hungary certain site documents, such as Preliminary Archaeological Documentation (PAD), 30-day report and 1-year report, have to be submitted to centralised institutions. The content and format of these documents are regulated, facilitating their digital archiving and accessibility. However, further documents (inventories, databases, scientific assessments, interdisciplinary analysis, photos, drawings, etc.), which are mainly created by the museum that carried out the excavation, may not end up in the designated repositories. Instead, these documents are stored in the local museums that carried out the excavations and/or where the finds are kept. It is a major problem that there is no officially-appointed, centralised hard copy and/or digital repository in Hungary where all site documents are stored and made accessible. In this respect, there are millions of files stored in museums all over the country that are neither used nor reused and are not accessible, and without the archaeological community, or even central institutions, being aware of them. Another problem is that digital archiving of archaeological documents is not regulated either on a national or local level. The only repository that includes both metadata and documents in Hungary is the Archaeology Database of the National Museum. This database provides a solution for depositing digital documents, and it could serve as a national repository where documents can be stored and accessed online in one place (through access levels). However, submitting digital documents to the archaeology database is unregulated and it is completely voluntary. The archaeology database has the potential to assist archiving on a national level should it become compulsory to submit documents to it, as its structure was designed in accordance with the protocols and it hosts documents.