Archaeology Data Service

Great news for anyone who hasn't applied yet — we've extended the deadline! 🎉

Applications for the ADS Transnational Access Training School on Linked Open Data and Semantic Mapping are now open until Friday 19 June.

Are you an archaeology or heritage researcher based outside the UK? Here's what you need to know 🌍

📅 Dates: 12–16 October 2026
📍 Venue: University of York, UK

This free five-day course will teach you everything you need to publish your archaeological or heritage data to the ARIADNE Portal — Europe's central access point for digital archaeology and heritage resources.

What's covered:
🔹 Introduction to Linked Open Data
🔹 Semantic data integration principles
🔹 The ARIADNE Portal, CIDOC-CRM and AO-Cat Ontology
🔹 Preparing and mapping your data
🔹 Using ARIADNE's mapping tools

No prior experience is required — you just need to bring a real-world dataset you'd like to map. Places are limited so make the most of the extended deadline!

Important: this is a Transnational Access scheme, which means it is open to applicants based outside the UK only.

Find out more and apply by 19 June 👇
https://buff.ly/fijhky6

Training school website: https://buff.ly/ZH3fvZq

📣 New to Ingest? We've got a training session just for you!

Join us for an Introduction to Ingest session on Thursday 28 May at 10am — an interactive online training session designed to help you get started with our new deposit system for archaeological and heritage data.

💻 Online via Zoom
⏱️ 1.5 hours
👥 Open to all users

What's included:
✅ An overview of Ingest and how it fits into the ADS and HSDS ecosystem
✅ A live step-by-step demonstration
✅ Hands-on time to try the system yourself with facilitator support

👉 Register here:

An Introduction to Ingest - 28th May 2026 A hands-on online training session introducing ADS and HSDS users to Ingest, the new deposit system for archaeological and heritage data.

📣 Got questions about Ingest? We've got answers!

Join us for an Ingest Drop-in Q&A Session on Thursday 14 May at 10am — a relaxed, open session where you can bring any questions about our new deposit system.

No set agenda — just your questions, answered.

💻 Online via Zoom
⏱️ 1 hour
👥 For users who've completed the Introduction to Ingest training

Ask about anything:
✅ Working with your own datasets
✅ Metadata requirements
✅ File formats & validation errors
✅ How Ingest connects to other ADS systems

💡 New to Ingest? We recommend completing an Introduction to Ingest training session before joining.

You can also submit questions in advance by emailing [email protected] with the subject line: Drop-in question — 14 May 2026

👉 Register here:

Ingest Drop-in Q&A Session - 14th May 2026 An open, informal Q&A drop-in for Ingest users. Bring your questions for the ADS and HSDS Team.

Last week staff from ADS and HSDS headed to the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists Annual Conference.

This year’s theme, Building Connections’ aimed to showcase archaeological practice and innovation, providing a place for discussion and learning from each other's experiences to create a stronger, more resilient archaeological community.

Highlights included:
⭐ Discussing our recent work with attendees
⭐ 'Future-Proofing Archaeological Data: Lessons Learned, Innovation and Better Practice' featuring a talk from Katie Green introducing Ingest
⭐ 'Heritage science: connecting scientific domains through heritage'
⭐ 'Launching OASIS+ modules in archaeobotany and zooarchaeology'

To read more about the conference visit: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/news-events/cifa-2026/

We're pleased to announce the launch of the ADS Training Portal — a new platform offering free, openly licensed training resources in data management, digital preservation, and open research.

Built for archaeologists and heritage professionals, the Portal publishes all materials as Open Educational Resources under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licences, with DOIs and full citations to support proper attribution and reuse.

Resources currently available:

✅ The ADS Archiving Workflow — a step-by-step guide to the ADS digital archiving process, with a glossary of technical terms and a case study of the OAIS reference model in practice. http://www.doi.org/10.5284/8qes-6g82

✅ Data Management for Archaeological Researchers — an online training manual covering good practice across the full research data lifecycle, including how to develop data management plans for funding applications. https://doi.org/10.5284/MZXZ-7H40

New resources will be added every quarter, including instructional videos on metadata and curated datasets for research and teaching.

👉 Find out more: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/blog/the-ads-training-portal/
👉 Explore the full catalogue: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/help-guidance/oer/

If you work with colleagues or students who would benefit from these materials, please do share this post.

📣 For those who saw our announcement earlier this month, the wait is over. Ingest is now live!

https://ingest.archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/

For those hearing about this for the first time — welcome! Ingest is the new deposit system from the Archaeology Data Service and Heritage Science Data Service.

Here's what's available right now:
✅ Registration is open via the User Management System (UMA)
📚 Full guidance is live — detailed information for all experience levels
🎓 Free training is bookable:👇

▪️ Introduction to Ingest (1.5 hours) — covering the system, the wider ADS/HSDS ecosystem, and a full deposit walkthrough
▪️ Monthly drop-in sessions (1 hour) — open Q&A with ADS and HSDS experts, with the option to submit questions in advance

ADS-Easy will continue running until April 2027, but from today all new depositors are asked to register with Ingest.

For large or complex deposits, or Library datasets (journals, monographs, reports), please contact our Collections Teams directly.

Find out more here: https://buff.ly/lrK8CV3
Any Questions? Drop them in the comments below 👇

💾 Digital Cleanup Day 2026 🫧

This year, we held our very first ADS/HSDS Digital Clean-up Day on Friday 20th March to reduce the digital waste in our computers and servers.

After tracking our progress over the day we got rid of 4.73 TB of clutter!

To find out more about the event visit: https://buff.ly/cfAdlyf

🏺 Launch of new OASIS+ Modules 🏺

We are excited to announce that on the 29th April the ADS will be launching two new OASIS+ modules in Archaeobotany and Zooarchaeology! These modules will greatly enhance the sharing, signposting and interoperability of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data, building digital connections.

Both new modules will be launched at a focused workshop at the CIfA conference this year, aimed at archivists, specialists, managers, local authority planners and other potentially interested parties. During this session speakers will showcase the modules as well as demonstrate how to enter records. As part of the workshop, participants are welcome to bring their own laptops and have a go using the system.

To find out more about this update and the workshop at CIfA, visit: https://buff.ly/tPGRZmN

⭐ New Blog Post 🏺

This weeks blog post centres around a new version of the 'Oxford Expedition to Egypt: Scene-details Database'. Written by Digital Archives Supervisor, Olivia Foster, this blog explores an ADS collection that has been a valuable resource for researchers since its original release in 2006. This update gives the database a new lease of life, making it more accessible and user-friendly for years to come.

To find out more about the changes and take a look at the archive itself visit: https://buff.ly/gtncjCm

Ever wondered about the ethical implications of missing skeletons? And how a centralised database might help solve this issue?

With increasingly advanced scientific approaches, bioarchaeology in the UK is thriving, yet the skeletal remains of almost 25,700 people excavated in the UK between 1869 and 2008 are currently unaccounted for.

A recent article co-authored by Digital Archives Assistant Dr Solange Bohling alongside Prof Mary Lewis and Dr Rebecca Pitt explores the research, legal, and ethical implications of this missing heritage.

To find out more and read this article visit: https://buff.ly/EyMOgDc