From recording finds from preventive operations to public valorisation of site collections, through underwater archaeology and site museums. CollectiveAccess supports several regional services and national operators.
Four steps in the chain
CollectiveAccess is not a field excavation tool. It sits downstream: when finds reach the depot, when study begins, when it's time to publish.
The field, its dedicated tools
Service's archaeological information system, mobile capture apps, the operator's digital notebooks. At this stage, the field calls for specific tools designed around excavation constraints. CollectiveAccess doesn't intervene here.
The finds join the database
Once the excavation is over, finds are cleaned, inventoried, and their documentation converges into the management database. That's CollectiveAccess's first intervention: receiving records, linking surveys and photos, keeping traceability back to the original operation.
Core of the deployment
Finds and documentation enter a regional depot. This is where CollectiveAccess is actually used in production — INRAP equips a network of more than fifty regional depots, and several regional archaeology services manage their own deposited collections.
From depot to online showcase
The Pawtucket interface turns the internal base into a public website, with no double entry. Real case: the INRAP digital gallery, online and rendered directly from the management base.
Six building blocks that CollectiveAccess brings concretely — already deployed with our archaeology clients.
Hierarchy site → sector → square → US, or any other breakdown specific to your mission. Fields linked to finds, surveys, photos, datings.
Material description, dimensions, dating, stratigraphic provenance, condition, marking. Multi-level numbering (excavation number, depot number, museum inventory number after transfer).
HD photos with image annotations, field surveys, orthophotos, 3D photogrammetric models. Direct link between object and its original survey.
GPS or Lambert 93 coordinates, mapping of US and finds on integrated maps. Useful for research archaeology and site review.
Exports to national databases (POP, Joconde if museum transfer), inventory list generation for excavation reports, XML export to regional archaeological depots.
Pawtucket interface to publish collections online — institutional site, virtual museum, mobile app. Real case: the INRAP digital gallery, publicly accessible.
Four archaeology institutions or site museums whose management base we publicly support.
France's national preventive archaeology operator
Online digital gallery — a virtual museum publishing finds from preventive excavations all across France
galeriemuseale.inrap.fr ↗
Regional Archaeology Service of the Ministry of Culture
Management database for the regional inventory, deposited finds, and operations conducted across Brittany
Regional service · BrittanyBelgium — reconstructed archaeological site and collections
Articulation between vestiges shown on site (Neolithic, Gallo-Roman, Merovingian reconstructions) and museum collections
Site museum · BelgiumSAN — Belgium
Scholarly cataloguing of the society's collections and publications
Learned society · BelgiumSee the full portfolio on our references.
What the database must satisfy depending on operational context.
Legal framework of preventive archaeology in France. Defines the role of INRAP and accredited operators.
Finds from excavation enter a regional depot. Standardised inventory, 3-segment marking, site → depot traceability.
Articles L. 524-1 to L. 542-5: framing of preventive, research and underwater archaeology. Applies to regional services and specialised operators.
When an object enters a labelled Musée de France collection, mapping to the national nomenclature. Handled by the museesDeFrance plugin.
The recurring questions in initial talks with regional services and operators.
Yes — it's the tool INRAP uses for its digital gallery, which publishes online finds from preventive operations. The flexible structure of 14 record types lets you model stratigraphic units, contexts, finds and surveys without forcing a rigid schema onto your excavation method.
That's precisely the point. A find record can reference its source US, the excavation operation, the responsible operator, and keep that link even when the object later enters a regional depot or a museum. Field surveys and photos stay attached to the object.
Precise geo-referencing, underwater photos, post-excavation condition status, tracking of desalination and stabilisation treatments. These constraints are built into CollectiveAccess deployments for subaquatic archaeology.
For preventive archaeology operators, compliance with the legal framework of the 17 January 2001 law. For transfers to a Musée de France, the in-house museesDeFrance plugin applies the SMF regulatory lock (line-of-inventory immutability, conformant registers, POP/Joconde export).
Yes — GPS or Lambert 93 coordinates, map visualisation of US and finds. Useful for site reviews, typological distribution mapping, and the publication of archaeological atlases.
POP and Joconde for finds transferred to a labelled museum collection. Structured XML for regional depots. CSV/XLSX for excavation reports. Wikipedia / Wikidata connector for open data sharing.
Varies with volume and starting state. For a regional service with a few thousand objects and operations to migrate, expect 3 to 6 months from initial audit to production. For simpler projects (learned society, site museum), 2 months can be feasible.
The Pawtucket interface turns your internal database into a public website. That's what INRAP does with galeriemuseale.inrap.fr — a digital museum gallery rendered directly from the management base. No double entry, no risk of divergence between the scholarly database and the public showcase.
Talk to idéesculture
Migration of your current base, CollectiveAccess setup for your operating chains, team training, online publication. Initial conversation is free, with a written scoping note that belongs to you even if you decide to work with someone else.