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Citizen Science in Archaeology: Developing a Collaborative Web Service for Archaeological Finds in Finland

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Transforming Heritage Practice in the 21st Century

Part of the book series: One World Archaeology ((WORLDARCH))

Abstract

Metal detecting has become a vivid area of citizen science. In many countries where metal detecting is legal, the rapidly increasing number of finds submitted to authorities managing national archaeological databases has overwhelmed the capabilities of those maintaining the records. We propose an innovative approach for solving the problem by presenting a case study, the Finnish Archaeological Finds Recording Linked Open Database (SuALT) project. The idea is to engage the citizens more deeply in the process of maintaining the database in a mentally rewarding way by educating and helping citizens to make their find reports more accurately and as easily as possible, in place at the find location using a mobile device. SuALT provides a sustainable archaeological repository of Linked Data in Finland, interlinked with related international systems that shall continue to facilitate public engagements with cultural heritage, and research opportunities, long after the project has ended.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The number (km) refers to the accession numbering of the National Museum of Finland.

  2. 2.

    http://seco.cs.aalto.fi

  3. 3.

    http://heldig.fi

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Acknowledgements

The authors would also like to thank CSC – IT Centre for Science, Finland, for computational resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cultures, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Anna Wessman, Suzie Thomas & Helinä Parviainen

  2. Library, Archives and Archaeological Collections, Finnish Heritage Agency, Helsinki, Finland

    Ville Rohiola, Jutta Kuitunen & Marianna Niukkanen

  3. Semantic Computing Research Group, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Mikko Koho, Esko Ikkala, Jouni Tuominen & Eero Hyvönen

  4. HELDIG—Helsinki Centre for Digital Humanities, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Jouni Tuominen & Eero Hyvönen

Authors
  1. Anna Wessman
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  2. Suzie Thomas
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  3. Ville Rohiola
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  4. Mikko Koho
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  5. Esko Ikkala
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  6. Jouni Tuominen
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  7. Eero Hyvönen
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  8. Jutta Kuitunen
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  9. Helinä Parviainen
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  10. Marianna Niukkanen
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Correspondence to Marianna Niukkanen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. ICIP ICOMOS, Savannah, GA, USA, 12,000 Year History Park, Cayce, SC, USA

    John H. Jameson

  2. History and Geography Faculty, Ion Creangă Pedagogical State University, Chisinau, Moldova

    Sergiu Musteaţă

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Wessman, A. et al. (2019). Citizen Science in Archaeology: Developing a Collaborative Web Service for Archaeological Finds in Finland. In: Jameson, J.H., Musteaţă, S. (eds) Transforming Heritage Practice in the 21st Century. One World Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14327-5_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14327-5_23

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-14327-5

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