Three educational films on the documentation of finds

The Damascus Branch, also the DAI's Research Centre in Amman, presents three films on handling pottery fragments during archaeological excavations on iDAI.tutorials. The educational films show step by step and with simple tools how scientific documentation of ceramic sherds works. Starting with the excavation, the first step in the processing of finds begins with the documentation of the fragments according to layers/contexts, the subsequent careful cleaning and the labelling and packaging of the material. This ensures that all important information is available to future researchers (find documentation III).

Corresponding work steps – from sorting, collecting, determining type and fabric (find documentation III) to drawing (find documentation II) and photographing (find documentation I) of selected fragments – are presented in the films, with a particular focus on the use of simple tools and the removal of obstacles. Each form of documentation offers opportunities for analysing the pottery and gaining information for researching ancient sites in many respects. The films are available in German and Arabic and provide insight into handling the material that comes to light in large quantities on almost every excavation.

Many thanks to the team of the Gadara project for their cooperation.

Cooperation: Department of Antiquities of Jordan

Funding: Auswärtiges Amt, Kulturerhalt-Programm

Project director: Claudia Bührig

Idea and production coordination: Heike Möller und Hanna Hamel

Production: der Betrieb / SchwabenFilm

Arabic translation: Sausan Saleh

Further outreach material: https://www.dainst.org/en/departments/orient-department/about-us/branches-and-research-units/damascus-branch/outreach