Boundary objects: using grave goods to link communities in the present (as well as the past)

该项目将在2016-2020年期间开展的工作的基础上进行，该工作是AHRC资助的“史前墓葬物品”项目(PGGP)的一部分。PGGP汇集了有关墓葬物品的各种信息，揭示了一些在史前英国发现的最具诱惑力和耐人寻味的物品的迷人细节。最初项目的一个关键要素是建立在确定的公共利益的基础上，提高人们对大英博物馆和英国各地小学史前墓葬物品的认识，并提供有关史前墓葬物品的新的、可访问的信息。另一个重要的方面是确保使用现有的、可供公众访问的数字财产(HERS)的信息作为我们研究的起点，将项目的详细结果直接反馈到这些储存库中，以便它们可以为未来对史前墓葬的调查提供一个可靠的平台。拟议的边界对象项目(BOP)旨在这项工作的基础上，根据公认的需求向新的方向发展。在PGGP的过程中，我们敏锐地意识到获取有关墓葬物品的信息是多么困难，以及不同的信息块存在于不同的、互不相连的筒仓中的程度--整个遗产部门长期缺乏关于考古物品(发现)及其发现背景(遗址)的统一思维。我们也意识到，尽管公众对史前墓葬物品和它们必须讲述的故事非常感兴趣，但目前志愿者几乎没有机会为寻找研究做出有意义的贡献，无论是在国家或地区一级的机构。为了应对这些平行的差距/需求，BOP的目标是：(1)利用墓葬物品在国家和主要地区机构中激发新一波考古志愿者，以及(2)使人们能够通过一个连贯的中央门户网站--“发现中心”--获取有关考古发现/遗址的信息，目前这些发现/遗址位于不同的、往往相对较难进入的地点。为了实现这些目标，我们将：在爱丁堡、奥克尼和外赫布里底群岛举办一系列利益相关者研讨会；让志愿者参与与新的和有意义的发现相关的研究(填充“发现中心”，将博物馆发现与其起源地连接起来，共同创建一系列“坟墓好故事”，将其作为Canmore‘Long Reads’出版，并成为我们项目结束庆祝展览的一部分，并创建新的发现的3D数字模型)；与领先的行业参与者合作，开发一个有效和可持续的‘发现中心’，将不同的考古信息连接在一个位置；并制作两份最佳实践文件，将该项目的遗产具体化，我们希望确保其想法在英国遗产部门得到采纳。虽然PGGP覆盖了整个英国，但苏格兰被选为BOP的试验区，因为它的数字存储库(Canmore和NMS)的连贯性和可访问性，以及我们项目合作伙伴的参与热情。核心项目团队将包括原始PGGP的成员以及苏格兰历史环境博物馆(HES)和苏格兰国家博物馆(NMS)的同事。更广泛的利益相关者包括来自两个案例研究地区-奥克尼和外赫布里底群岛-的历史环境记录和博物馆专业人员，以及与这些组织相关的志愿者团体。通过产生一个可持续的“发现中心”资源，原则上可以在英国推广，邀请全英国的遗产专业人士参加我们的项目结束研讨会，并制作两份广泛可用的最佳实践文件，我们希望确保该项目在全国范围内得到可扩展的遗产。

This project will build on work undertaken from 2016-2020 as part of the AHRC-funded 'Prehistoric Grave Goods' project (PGGP). PGGP brought together diverse information about objects from burials to reveal fascinating details about some of the most alluring and intriguing objects found in prehistoric Britain. One key element of the original project was to build on identified public interest, raising awareness of and providing new, accessible information about prehistoric grave goods in the British Museum and - via information packs - in primary schools across the UK. Another important strand was to ensure that, having used information from existing, publicly accessible digital holdings (HERs) as a starting point for our research, detailed findings from the project were fed directly back into these repositories so that they could provide a sound platform for future investigations of prehistoric burial.The proposed Boundary Objects project (BOP) aims to build on this work, developing it in new directions according to recognised needs. Over the course of PGGP, we became acutely aware of how difficult it can be to access information about grave goods, and the extent to which different parcels of information exist in different, unconnected silos - there is a chronic lack of joined-up thinking across the heritage sector regarding archaeological objects (finds) and their contexts of discovery (sites). We also came to realise that, despite a very clear public interest in prehistoric grave goods and the stories they have to tell, very few opportunities currently exist for volunteers to contribute meaningfully to finds research, whether in national- or regional-level institutions. In order to respond to these parallel gaps/needs, BOP aims to: (1) use grave goods to inspire a new wave of archaeological volunteers in both national and key regional institutions, and (2) enable people to access information about archaeological finds/sites, currently located in diverse and often relatively inaccessible locations, through one coherent, centralised portal: a 'finds hub'. In order to achieve these goals, we will: hold a series of stakeholder workshops in Edinburgh, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides; engage volunteers in new and meaningful finds-related research (populating the 'finds hub', connecting museum finds back up with their sites of origin, co-creating a series of 'grave good stories' which will be published as Canmore 'long reads' and form part of our end-of-project celebration exhibition and creating new 3D digital models of finds); work with leading industry players to develop an effective and sustainable 'finds hub' that will connect disparate archaeological information in one location; and produce two best-practice documents that will concretize the project's legacy and, we hope, ensure uptake of its ideas across the UK heritage sector. Whilst PGGP covered Britain as a whole, Scotland has been selected as the pilot area for BOP because of the coherency and accessibility of its digital repositories (Canmore and NMS) and because of our project partners' enthusiasm to participate.The core project team will include members of the original PGGP together with colleagues at Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and the National Museum of Scotland (NMS). Wider stakeholders include Historic Environment Record and museum professionals from two case study areas - Orkney and the Outer Hebrides - and volunteer groups associated with these organisations. In producing a sustainable 'finds hub' resource that, in principle, can be rolled out across the UK, inviting UK-wide heritage professionals to our end-of-project workshops and producing two widely-available best practice documents, we hope to ensure a nationwide, scalable legacy for the project.