TEtrARCHs: Transforming data rE-use in ARCHaeology

Today many organisations collect and manage archaeological data to document and preserve our cultural landscapes, sites and objects. Unfortunately, our current methods can make it difficult to re-use the data to tell stories and share findings in ways that are democratic, engaging and just. In fact, although a lot of work has been done to make archaeology Findable, Accessible and Interoperable (according to the FAIR Principles), little is understood about whether our data is Reusable – and who is using it.

The TETRARCHs project will experiment with approaches to collecting archaeological data and using that data for storytelling in ways that are meaningful for diverse audiences. Our experiments will help both those who preserve our heritage and the huge range of citizens across Europe who value it.

To do so, we will create new workflows for collecting and managing archaeology and heritage data. Here we’ll examine how the archaeological process in the field, the lab and the archive can be changed to support storytelling with the data. We’ll develop these workflows by partnering with an interdisciplinary team of archaeological specialists, data scientists and museum practitioners alongside three key audiences – domain experts, creative practitioners and memory institutions.

Our project includes archaeology data collection at three different scales – from whole landscapes, to single sites, to individual objects. We’ll explore these using four increasingly common technologies for data capture: airborne LiDAR, 3D scanning, digital field drawing and photography.

Once the workflows are complete, we’ll test them by supporting people who work in creative fields from across Europe to develop new stories and other imaginative works using archaeology data.

In the end, through TETRARCHs, we will produce:

  • new workflows for field, laboratory, and archival practice in archaeology;
  • the world’s first controlled vocabulary for cultural heritage storytelling;
  • the first assessments of how effectively data is reused, following ISO Standard 25022: Measurement of Quality in Use;
  • the first best practice recommendations for trusted digital repositories to optimise their archaeological data for re-use in storytelling.

KEYWORDS:

archaeology, data, re-use, fair principles, storytelling, audience, creative, preservation

CONSORTIUM

  • Project Leader : Sara Perry, University College London, United Kingdom, e-mail
  • Rimvydas Laužikas, Vilnius University, Faculty of Communication, Lithuania, e-mail
  • Edisa Lozić, Znanstvenoraziskovalni Center Slovenske Akademije Znanosti in Umetnosti, Inštitut za Arheologijo, Slovenia, e-mail
  • Nicoló Dell’Unto, Lund University, Archaeology and Ancient History, Sweden
  • Helene Verreyke, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Design Sciences, Belgium
  • Christophe Verbruggen, Ghent University, History, Belgium

COOPERATION PARTERS

  • Julian Richards, SEADDA COST Action
  • Finbarr Whooley, Museum of London
  • Peter Carpreau,Head of the Old Master Department, Museum Leuven
  • Sally Chambers, CLARIAH-VL Coordinator,Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities
  • Kaat Debo, ModeMuseum Antwerpen
  • Espen Uleberg, Digital Documentation, Museum of Cultural History
  • Damian Murphy, University of York

EFFECTS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Project website

Project achievements:

Background

Many organisations collect and manage archaeological data to document and preserve cultural landscapes, sites, and objects, but current methods make it difficult to re-use the data to tell stories and share findings in ways that are democratic, engaging and just.

Purpose and methods

TETRARCHs experiments with approaches to collecting and using archaeological data in ways that are meaningful for – and tailored uniquely to – local audiences. We do this through storytelling, as it is via narrative that most people make sense of the world around them. Working at different scales – landscapes, single sites, individual objects – using airborne LiDAR, 3D scanning, and digital photography, we collaborate directly with communities, creative practitioners and heritage professionals to design and test different methods that can support people across Europe in developing new stories and imaginative works using archaeology data.

Key findings and impact Our key finding is unequivocal: archaeological data must be humanised to ensure they are used again by others. They must represent human emotions, sensations, actions, moods, lived experiences, as well as include literal signifiers of humans in records and other media. This finding is consistent across countries, languages, data types and user groups.

TETRARCHs has:

  • Produced the world’s first Storytelling Data Model and associated user manual, the first Guide to Personal Data in Archaeological Archives, and the first assessments of how effectively data are reused, following ISO Standards.
  • Commissioned creative residents – Chloé Dierckx, Eloise Moody, Cobi van Tonder – to collaborate in our experiments and pursue their own archaeological data reuse over 3 years. Fifty-two applicants from 19 countries applied for the roles, which paid up to £12,000 each and required travel to at least one of our field sites. Our successful residents produced multiple pieces of socially engaged art, including a hand-drawn tarot- inspired deck of cards (Dierckx), an embroidered geotextile with 22ct gold leaf (subsequently buried at Toumba Serron in a public event) (Moody), a 45-minute live musical piece (performed multiple times) (van Tonder), and a bread-baking collaboration with local bakers in Greece and Sardinia (Moody). These creative works were exhibited/consumed in London, York, Belgium, Krakow, Puglia, Palermo, Al Ain, Toumba Serron, and Tharros with more than 750 people.
  • Launched a well-loved project website, which has seen visitors from 100 countries, more than 20,000 page visits, and an average of 625 monthly views from 1643 unique visitors.
  • Hosted an esteemed monthly online seminar series, featuring 17 speakers, with more than 1800 registrants from 62 countries. The freely-available recordings on Vimeo have attracted another 330+ views.
  • Established new collaborations with institutions (Fondazione Mont’e Prama and Kingston School of Art) and projects (Tharros Archaeological Research Project), and students and visiting scholars (Chiara Giovannetti – Italy; Kevin Garstki – USA, Despoina Sampatakou – Scotland, and in England: Helen Wickstead, Sadie Watson, Alice Clough, Mackenzie Saunders, Pooja Sree Murugakannan, Dorothy Zhu), as well as full cohorts of university students who helped to test TETRARCHs’ tools and methods, elaborate our research approach, and connect us with more communities and sites.
  • Conducted fieldwork and data collection in London (UK), Västra Vång (Sweden), Toumba Serron (Greece), Tharros (Sardinia, Italy), Al Ain (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), and with institutions and people across Belgium, Lithuania and Slovenia.
  • Through a competitive process, created a short video, which has been viewed over 5000 times on different platforms (Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube).
  • Published a story (online and in print) with our collaborators at Fondazione Mont’e Prama and the Tharros Archaeological Research Project on the impact and findings of our efforts to mix communities and archaeologists together in collecting and reusing archaeological data.
  • Produced multiple other research outputs: open access articles in the Journal of Field Archaeology (3404 views since 2025), Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology (3414 views since 2023), Internet Archaeology (Derudas et al. 2026; Laužikas et al. 2026; and another in press) and the Journal of Illustration (in press); two book chapters (in press); an 18-paper session at Computing Applications in Archaeology 2023; keynote speeches and invited talks (reaching at least 1500 people); 3D datasets and models (Hästhallen, Toumba Serron, Västra Vång); platform outputs for AIR; and workshops on topics from advanced 3D documentation and linked open data, to storytelling with photographs, to data capture workflows.
  • Leveraged over €14-million in new funding for related research. The TETRARCHs archive now lives at the Archaeology Data Service: https://doi.org/10.5284/1139492

Publications:

  • Pritchard H. V., Britton L., For Careful Slugs: Caring for Unknowing in CS (Computer Science), http://dx.doi.org/10.28968/cftt.v8i2.37723
  • Alexander H., Bareiter C., Eckhardt D., Digital Truth Making: Anthropological Perspectives on Right-wing Politics and Social Media in “Post-truth” Societies, Ethnologie Europaea, 2023, https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/ethnologia-europaea/53/2/ee530201.xml
  • Mauricio R., ‘Rescuing Europe’ and ‘balancing powers’ A postcolonial critique of European digital sovereignty, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 2024
  • Atzmüller R., Egger L., Pillinger A., Digitalisierung als Krisenbearbeitung? Die ‚digitale Wende‘ der EU-Politik am Beispiel des NGEU-Wiederaufbauplans, Basel: Scheinsubjekt Digitalisierung – Akteurszentrierte Analysen der Arbeit 4.0., 2024
  • Perry, S., Wright, H., Simandiraki-Grimshaw, A., Taylor, J., Morgan, C., Derudas, P., Fadioui, A., Foket, L., Clough, A., Sampatakou, D., Hacıgüzeller, P., Towards New Futures for Archaeological Data Production: Challenging Archaeonormativity through Storytelling, Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 50, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2025.2504235
  • Dell’Unto, N., Derudas, P., Berggren, Å., Campanaro, D. M., Svensson, A., Fauvelle, M., Larsson, J., Dininno, D., Observing Reuse of 3D Data in Archaeological Excavations, Internet Archaeology, vol. 71, 2026, https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.71.5
  • Laužikas, R., Kelpšienė, I., Jovaišaitė-Blaževičienė, I., Šuminas, A., Digital Archaeological Data in the Creative Industries: Access, Barriers, and the Potential for Inspiration, Internet Archaeology, vol. 71, 2026, https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.71.2
  • Perry, S., Simandiraki-Grimshaw, A., Copsey, L., Wickstead, H., Supermarket Ruins: Exploring Heritage through Visual Storytelling, Journal of Illustration, vol. 13, 2026
  • Fadioui, A., Building Data Models for Archaeology: The TETRARCHs Storytelling Data Model, Internet Archaeology, vol. 71, 2026
  • Wright, H., Taylor, J., The Thinking Field: Ring-Fencing Creative Space in Digital Archaeological Practice, Digital Impacts on Archaeological Fieldwork: Advantages and Limitations, vol. 16, 2026
  • Taylor, J., Digital Fields and Inclusive Futures: Towards Ethical and Participatory Approaches in Archaeological Data Acquisition and Management, Advanced 3D Documentation and Linked Open Data, 2026
  • Perry, S., Wright, H., Simandiraki-Grimshaw, A., Murugakannan, P., Green, K., Garland, N., Niven, K., Middle, S., Guide to Personal Data in Archaeological Archives, Archaeology Data Service Guides to Good Practice, 2026, https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/help-guidance/guides-to-good-practice/the-project-lifecycle/personal-data-in-archaeological-archives/

 Start date

1 October 2022

Project duration

36 months

 Project budget

€ 1 407 983

Funding organisations