mia ridge

While I'd started working on the project in 2003, 2004 was my first year on site at Çatalhöyük, a research dig at a Neolithic site in Anatolian Turkey.

My role was to discover the data recording, analysis and publication requirements for various specialist labs as well as the dig as a whole while working to clean, merge and centralise various stand-alone Access databases onto a single SQL Server installation.  I worked on specialist databases including Figurines, Pottery, Stamp seals, Human remains, Digital photography, Faunal, Crates, Finds Log, Conservation, Micromorphology, and the shared Diary.

While I was familiar with the single context recording system used on site, as a post-processual site, it was an interesting change from working with MoLAS and I found my previous background as a humanities student informed my understanding of the need to structure the recording of material and formal characteristics of various finds across existing specialisms.

With Rich May I wrote a brief Database & IT Developments report for the Çatalhöyük Archive Report 2004. The impact of the on-going database work is evident in other reports, such as the Figurines 2004 report.