6 Case Study: The FeedSax Project
Below is an example of a recent archaeological research project and how they approached making their data and other outputs FAIR, in collaboration with the ADS.
The Feeding Anglo-Saxon England Project was a European Research Council (ERC) funded project led by Professor Helena Hamerow between 2017 and 2022. The project examined bioarchaeological data, such as animal bones and paleoenvironmental remains, alongside evidence from settlement archaeology to better understand the growth of population and arable farming in England between 8th and 13th centuries.
6.1 Typical Research Outputs
The project produced a number of research outputs including several articles and books (listed below). These include a paper in the journal Antiquity, a paper in the journal Journal of Archaeological Science and a collected volume published in Liverpool University Press. Vitally, all of these outputs are Open Access and are free for all to download and read.
Hamerow, H., Bogaard, A., Charles, M., Ramsey, C., Thomas, R., Forster, E., Holmes, M., McKerracher, M., Neil, S. and Stroud, E. 2019. Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: The bioarchaeology of an agricultural revolution. Antiquity, 93(368), DOI: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.2710.15184/aqy.2019.27
Stroud, E., Charles, M., Bogaard, A. and Hamerow, H. 2023. Turning up the heat: Assessing the impact of charring regime on the morphology and stable isotopic values of cereal grains, Journal of Archaeological Science 153, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105754
McKerracher, M. & Hamerow. H. (eds) 2022. New Perspectives on the Medieval ‘Agricultural Revolution’. Liverpool University Press. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/58568
6.2 Research Data Outputs
In addition to these more ‘traditional’ outputs, the project also made wider use and availability of the research that they conducted. The project created several large datasets, which they have also made available for use beyond the life of the project.
An ADS Archive - A searchable and downloadable national database of quantitative bioarchaeological evidence from excavated sites across England, spanning the 7th to 13th centuries AD. Available as an Open Access resource via a Creative Commons Licence.
Mark McKerracher, Amy Bogaard, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Michael Charles, Emily Forster, Helena Hamerow, John Hodgson, Matilda Holmes, Samantha Neil, Tina Roushannafas, Elizabeth Stroud, Richard Thomas (2023) Digital Archive for Feeding Anglo-Saxon England (FeedSax): The Bioarchaeology of an Agricultural Revolution, 2017-2022 data-set. York: Archaeology Data Service distributor. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5284/1057492
A University of Oxford Archive - A large library of more than 6,000 photographs of charred grain saved in the University of Oxford institutional repository. This visual database of the grains used in destructive analysis is useful for other researchers and specialists as a reference collection.
Hamerow, H. et al. 2023. Feeding Anglo-Saxon England grain photographs. University of Oxford. Collection. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25446/oxford.c.6641474.v3
A Data paper - A short academic paper published in Internet Archaeology that explains the context for both of these databases, why they are useful, for whom and in what way.
McKerracher, M. et al. 2023 Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: a bioarchaeological dataset for the study of early medieval agriculture (Data paper), Internet Archaeology 61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.61.5
