Articles by Torsten Madsen

The present paper draws attention to the problem of describing contextual information using an object-oriented approach to relational database techniques. Initially, it outlines the basic theoretical concepts for a structured description of complex information in a relational database. The insight gained from this exercise is used to demonstrate how a generalised object-oriented solution may be implemented using a standard relational DBMS. The implementation called GARD is an all-purpose recording system, where the user can create a particular database structure through its interface without making changes to the underlying table structure, and modify the database as needed parallel to the recording of data. Finally, an example using decorated bowls from the Danish Neolithic shows how complex relational information may be handled. This information has been entered into GARD and extracted again for analysis.

The use of GIS in Scandinavian archaeology is still limited. The current survey has revealed 18 projects, of which 12 are full research projects, four are Cultural Resource Management (CRM) projects and two are aimed at developing field methods. Minor projects based on the work of individuals prevail among the research projects, although at least one large-scale project is reported. Three of the four CRM projects are “flagships” for their country (Denmark, Norway and Sweden). The paper takes a critical attitude towards the current development in Scandinavian Archaeology, where an obvious disparity between administrative and research archaeology prevails. The way GIS is applied may be seen as a good example of what this disparity means. Large scale uses of GIS occur in the CRM context, but primarily not with a research aim. Ambitious research projects, on the other hand, are promoted by research institutions, but generally they appear impotent due to a lack of resources. Further, the paper focuses on demands for making GIS a success in archaeological research. Issues discussed here are: active research contributions from CRM units in the future; better access to digital map information for non-profit research projects; education, education and once more education of archaeologists.

In the fifties and sixties it was assumed that a generalised and detailed descriptive system for archaeological materials could be constructed, and that this system could be transferred to a computerised symbolic representation. In the early seventies this position was abandoned as it was realized that data are theory-dependent and problem-specific. As a consequence it has been widely accepted that databases containing archaeological data are bound to be highly individual and short-lived. With the increasing number of IT based archaeological recording systems, the inherent heterogeneity becomes a hindrance for archival purposes and effective management of archaeological projects. It is also, however, an obstacle for a formalized methodology, because researchers end up with pragmatic ad hoc solutions, which often shoehorn the recordings into rigid data-structures. The IDEA (the Integrated Database for Excavation Analysis) is to solve this problem. Through a database meta-structure and a user-friendly interface IDEA offers the researcher the possibility to implement a problem-specific description of archaeological objects, but at the same time stores data and data-definitions in one underlying structure, regardless of chosen solution. In this paper we describe how we have solved the problem of creating a database structure capable of holding widely diffused classifications and descriptions.