Dendrochronological Data in Archaeology: A Guide to Good Practice

Peter Brewer, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, USA.Esther Jansma, Cultural Heritage Agencyand Utrecht University, The Netherlands 

This document serves as a good-practice guide for the collection and archival of dendrochronological data in the context of archaeological and historical research. The guide is aimed at both those creating dendrochronological datasets, and those that commission dendrochronological analyses. This guide does not cover the methods involved in dendrochronological analyses, but focuses on how to describe and archive the data and metadata involved in these analyses. This guide is concerned with best practice for the curation of digital information but does not cover the equally important aspects of the curation of physical samples. However, physical samples are the primary source of information in dendrochronological analyses and should always be managed alongside the digital data wherever possible. This ensures that samples can be re-evaluated where necessary and also re-examined as new analytical techniques are developed.

Section 1 - Aims and Objectives#

• 1.1 Background to the Guide's Focus
• 1.2 Scope of the Guide
• 1.3 Data and Metadata

Section 2 - Creating Dendrochronological Data#

• 2.1 Project Planning and Requirements
• 2.2 Sources of Data
• 2.3 File Types (whilst creating, working with, and processing data)
• 2.4 File Naming Convention
• 2.5 Documenting Data Creation and Processing

Section 3 - Archiving Dendrochronological Data#

• 3.1 Deciding What to Archive
• 3.2 Deciding How to Archive
• 3.3 Archiving File Types
• 3.4 Converting Data Formats
• 3.5 Archiving Strategies
• 3.6 Metadata and Documentation

Section 4 - Copyright#

• 4.1 Copyright for Dendrochronology

References#

• Bibliography
• Resources
• Glossary