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I've been keeping tabs on this website for a couple of years now, and it is pretty disturbing. It seems to market itself as a proper archaeological resource, but like you say, advertises in detectorist magazines. I managed to get on a mailing list a while ago, so get a reminder every time the site gets updated, and occasionally do searches to check against the SMR. I wish I had the time to get a project together to try and trace where the information is being supplied from.
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Tempted to put a fictional site together and release it through one source at at time. Bit like marking banknotes.If only I had time to enjoy my paranoia.
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I suppose a good shoe-in would be to join and get the info direct from them, but that would be the same as supporting the site.
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Anyone know any good hackers out there?
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YOu could of course ask him to say just who (names) does use him.. I would be intrigued to find out just which Curator uses it when they should have an SMR... ahem...cough... as well as Consultancies...
hobbyists are used as another word for detectorists..
I am however working very well with detectorists and think that he is selling that which is already available publically anyway!
Go on... ask him for the name of the County who uses it... I can't wait for the response...
Another day another WSI?
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Maybe the County Archaeology Department took out a subscription so they could keep an eye on it? I thought about doing that, but like I said, didn't want to support the site.
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Where does it say that it's used by a county council? I noticed you were only vaguely outraged Alfie, maybe they have information that's on the SMR because they clear their backlogs quicker than the average SMR assistant, and have a financial incentive to do it. The NMR is rarely as up to date as even the local CBA bulletins to name one source of new discoveries.
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The thing is... this person has done what already exists (though perhaps not as up to date...)
what exactly it is used for ... your guess is as good... it seems a bit vague about what it is used for..
here is the page that describes ARCHI ....
ARCHI History
Archaeology UK has been created as a portal around the "ARCHI" database which we have developed over the past eight years.
The database was initially constructed to address the lack of easily available information relating to the distrubution of archaeological sites. This was particularly evident during my time as a student of archaeology at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.
A well presented assignment would require a knowledge of the distribution of UK archaeological sites and how the landscape / geology / availability of materials etc could influence that distribution. However, one could not begin to discuss the latter without a knowledge of the former and as it was very difficult at the time to find the precise site locations within the literature, it was necessary to create my own database holding this information.
This lack of information also contributed to a missed opportunity in the my early youth to "discover" archaeology. It was known that "somewhere" on the moors was a Roman Fort. This notion obviously inspired all sorts of imaginings and was a distraction from the sometimes grim reality of life on a council estate in a Northern town. However, despite attempts to find its location from teachers, the local library etc, myself nor my equally inspired friends could find out where it was. Hence, at least the opportunity to challenge the stereotypical view that a "gang" of kids from the town could only be up to no good was missed.
The above are the initial reasons for ARCHI's conception, however, this initial concept became a labour of love and a desire for completeness. Further, technological advances such as the rise of the internet and the ability to integrate information from different databases hosted by different web sites coupled with my profession as a computer programmer and a passion for all things archaeological, presented a challenge which could not be resisted. Hence, the continued development of the database.
Data Sources
The data within ARCHI has been sourced from a wide range of publications ranging from specialist books to the "mainstream" archaeological journals such as Britannia, Council for British Archaeology Reports etc. Additionally, data has been sourced from archaeological surveys published by various Local Historical / Archaeological Societies and Field Groups.
For a list of all the journal titles represented in ARCHI click here.
A small but increasing number of records are "personal communications" from field walkers. However, we only publish these findspots on our site if the finder is known to us and hence we can personally validate the source.
Who uses ARCHI?
ARCHI has a worldwide reach. We have had subscriptions from British and American University Archaeology / History Departments, Schools, Archaeological Societies & Clubs, County Archaeology Departments, Archaeological Consultancies, Archaeology students and Hobbyists from Australia to Mexico.
Another day another WSI?
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Sinister.....? Have we really got nothing better to worry about. Surely thsi amateur interest should be encouraged not condemned, and anyway all this information is, as BAJR states surely available elsewhere. As for being used by 'County Archaeology Departments', the guy is probably pushing his sales pitch a step too far, then again he may mean county units, although why they would want to use his resource rather than the local SMR/HER, I dunno. Maybe he doesn't charge ?50 an hour (+ random VAT) for the pleasure???
