SHARP - Digitising Project

This site hosts files and images that relate to the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP) and covers the digitisation of drawings and some of the paper records. The main SHARP site is to be found at SHARP
Current Position

Digitisation is being carried out to support the publication of the wealth of information gathered from the Sedgeford Parish in West Norfolk. The initial digitisation concentrated on the conversion of Plans from the Boneyard site and the Plans and Sections from the Chalkpit North Evaluation.

* Work on the Boneyard main plan drawings has been carried our professionally by the Norfolk Archaeological Unit (see link) and passed to SHARP. NAU converted strategically selected plans from the Boneyard site in order to enable an assessment report of the main excavations to take place. These plans are being checked by Gareth and the HR team and selected images are availble on this site to members under the Boneyard menu. Gareth has reviewed the material to be used a support the Boneyard publication and the Quantification can be found here

* Work is also close to completion for the Roman Project (SH05/06) excavation drawings and is being managed by Neil Faulkner. Digitisation is complete with the exception of Sheet 12 (bad scan) and some corrections/clarifications to the original drawings

* The digitisation of Season drawings from 2007/8 Chalkpit (SH07/08 CNE) are complete and were carried out by SHARP. For last years excavations SH08 CNE main plans of Trenchs 6 & 9 were digitised by Deborah Riches. Work on the rest of the drawings is complete with the exception of Sheets 9 & 12 (very faint scans). Digitised drawings are currently being reviewed by John Boothroyd and will be released shortly into the members area.

* Also for the SH08 season we have already digitised the (complete?) paper record and these too are on-line.

You should note that some of the drawings are large and may take considerable time to download if you are using a dial-up connection to the internet.
Next Stage

The digitised drawings will be used to support publication and a set of the plans/sections will be selected and enhanced to meet the publishers specifications.

Comments on this layout of the web-site and the current contents are welcomed! We would also be interested in what further information could or should be made available on-line.

Expected Benefits

The prime objective of digitisation is to take the on-site drawings made of SHARP excavations and convert them into a medium suitable for publication. As they are digitised and reviewed inconsistencies in format or content will be corrected. In general the guidelines used for drawings, outlined in the SHARP Archaeological Field Handbook will be followed but may be modified in the with the facilities of the digital drawing software. Any conventions used will be available on this website.

In addition to facilitating publication this digital archive will also:-

* Give an off-site reference for SHARP members to documents in the SHARP Archive
* Provide a second copy of documents, this protecting the historical record
* Supply the Team members with current status of the digitisation project
* Include details of the developing standards for the digital record
* Promote input from members on the content and format of the archive

In the interests of speed this initial site has been designed to allow quick access to the digitised files. It is hoped that in future versions, we can add tools for analysis and reporting on data in the archive (where feasible).
Future Plans

The digitisation of SHARP information will continue to be managed by the Team, informed by feedback from members.

* After the CNE drawings are completed the focus is moving to digitisation of the Roman Project and Iron Age drawings.
* Enhancement of the web-site in line with SHARP needs

Please note this is a developing site so certain features may not work or be unavailable as the site grows.

Current Work

Work has just been finished to put a number of SH09 Season onto this website, these include scans of the paper record and a large collection of photographs from the main Chalkpit North site and from the firldwork carried out on the Sedgeford Airfield. Work continues on digitising the drawings from last year and these will be placed on the site when received.

There are plans to review and restructure the data currently held on the SHARP PCs used during the summer season. When this is agreed this website will be modified to harmonise with the new format which may result in a period (hopefully brief) while records are temporarily unavailable.

Source from : http://sharp.greyhawk.org.uk


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