Overview and Highlights

Gathering highlight data...

The areas above represent the relative proportion of different types of content published by Open Context. See below to learn about how Open Context organizes content.

Subjects of Observation

In Open Context, "Subjects of Observation" are the physical things described by researchers in their studies. They include archaeological sites, ecofacts (like animal bones and plant remains), archaeological contexts and features, areas of the landscape defined in surveys, and much more.

Media

"Media" records are binary digital files that help document data published by Open Context. They can include image files (photographs or drawings), GIS media files, PDF files, Excel data files, video files, 3D model files, and more.

Documents

"Documents" records are (unstructured) narrative text information stored directly in the Open Context database in the HTML format. Because they are HTML they can contain links to images and links to other records inside and outside of Open Context. Their content is also more thoroughly indexed for search than the content of "media" files above.

Projects

In Open Context, "Projects" are the main units of publication. A project represents a collection of data, media, and associated documentation developed and contributed by one or more investigators. Each project typically has their own manner of describing and categorizing their observations.

Data Tables

In general, Open Context is a dynamic and frequently updated database. You can download a virtually limitless variety of tabular data to output every search or query you make. However, Open Context also stores some static and unchanging externally stored "Data Tables" files. Unless otherwise indicated, the content of Data Table files will not change even after updates to the Open Context database.

Open Context publishes object (artifact) data and associated documentation, including images, field notes, and the results of a variety of laboratory studies. You can use these data to find parallels and comporanda or conduct quantitative studies.

Open Context publishes data describing archaeological contexts and their stratigraphic relationships.
Image credit: Bradley Parker, Peter Cobb (2012)

Open Context publishes standards aligned zooarchaeological (archaeozoology) data documenting animal bone specimens together with biometrics studied by researchers working around the world.

Open Context publishes data from public agencies and archaeological survey projects that describe archaeological sites and regions.

Open Context publishes images, including photographs and drawings of material collections, features, sites, contexts and more.

Open Context publishes narrative field notes and other documents that inform field work and other studies.

Geospatial feature data helps to describe much of the information published by Open Context. This geospatial data can be downloaded and used in desktop GIS or other applications.
Image credit: Benjamin Carter (2020)

Open Context provides a platform to publish and explore 3D documentation of objects and features linked to contextual information.
Image credit: Kevin Garstki (2020)