Excavate.it

The workspace

The Database

Every record an excavation produces lives in linked Notion databases: finds, stratigraphic units, photographs, storage boxes, the diary and reports. This is what working in them looks like, from the trench to the published article.

Is Excavate.it the same as Notion?
No. Notion is the database the records live in, and we did not build it: we know how to use it. Excavate.it is how we set it up for an excavation, bring your data across, and build the tools on top of it that complete the cycle, from recording to analysis.

Records

Every record, linked to the rest

Finds, stratigraphic units, trenches, photographs, storage boxes and diary entries are separate databases that point at each other. A find carries its context, and a context carries its finds.

From a find to its unit to its trench

Open a find and its stratigraphic unit, trench and storage box are one click away. Open the unit and every find recorded in it is listed, with its photographs. Nothing is typed twice, so nothing disagrees with itself.

Can we keep our own terminology and way of recording?
Yes. Columns are named in the terms your excavation already uses: at Maligrad, stratigraphic units are called loci. When new information does not fit the structure, a column is added on the spot and data entry carries on, so the database keeps adapting to how you actually work.

A new column, on the spot

When something turns up that the structure does not cover yet, a column is added where it is needed and recording carries on. The database keeps adapting to the excavation instead of the excavation adapting to the database.

Your existing records, moved in

Rows of an existing catalogue become records, and photographs dragged from their folders land on the find they belong to. Years of spreadsheets and folders end up in the same place as this season's work.

Views

The same records, seen your way

A view is a way of looking at a database without copying it: a gallery, a table, a board, a chart, each with its own filters. Everyone works on the same records; each person sees them the way their work needs.

A view for every role

A photo gallery for the finds specialist, a table for the registrar, a board for the director. Creating one takes seconds, and it never duplicates a record.

How does the team work together in it?
Everyone works on the same linked records. One database can have many views, such as a photo gallery for the finds specialist, a table for the registrar and a board for the director, without copying anything. Questions are asked and settled in comments on the unit or find itself, so a decision made in the trench is still there when the report is written.

Saved filters for the work at hand

A view can keep its filters, so the special finds, the bronzes or one season's material are always one click away, and always up to date.

Charts that open onto the records

Totals and charts are drawn live from the records the team fills in: finds by type, by material, by excavation year. Click any part of a chart and the records behind it open.

Can we make charts from our data?
Yes, straight from the same records: from finds by type to finds grouped by material and excavation year. You do not need to know how to build one; you can describe the chart you have in mind to the built-in AI.

Photo albums by season

The photographs of each season sit in albums of their own, in the same workspace as the records they document, instead of in folders on someone's laptop.

In the field

From the trench, even without a signal

Recording has to keep up with the excavation, not with the network. The workspace goes where the team goes and catches up when they get back.

Offline in the trench, in sync at the house

Down in the trench there is often no signal. The diary is still written on paper and everything is photographed with a phone, while a laptop or phone keeps working offline. Back at the house, the edits sync on their own as soon as there is Wi-Fi.

Does it work in the trench without a signal?
Yes. In the trench the team writes the diary on paper and photographs everything with a phone, and a laptop in offline mode can add the basic details of new finds. Back at the house, once it is online, the new finds and stratigraphic units sync to the cloud on their own, and everyone uploads their notes straight to the right record.

The diary, transcribed the same day

A photograph of a diary page and a spoken account of the day become that day's entry, transcribed and translated, with every unit and find it mentions linked to its record. The original page stays attached.

How does the excavation diary transcription work?
Scan a page of the handwritten excavation diary and it is transcribed into that day's entry in Notion. Every grave, stratigraphic unit and find the page mentions is linked to its record, and the original scan stays attached to the entry, so the handwriting is always one click away.

Control

Nothing slips through

The database knows what each record should hold, who may change it and who did. Problems surface while the season is running, not when the report is due.

Who sees and edits what

Access is set per database and even per field: the whole team can read the sketches while only their author edits them, a specialist sees their own material, and nothing is public unless you decide it is.

Can we decide who sees and edits what?
Yes. Access is set per database, per page and even per field, for each person or group: some people edit, some only read, and nothing is public unless you publish it. Specialists and external partners can be given exactly the part of the record they work on.

Checks that flag what is missing

Because the database knows what a record should hold, it flags what is missing or contradictory: a find without a trench, a level or a storage box, a position that disagrees with its unit. The list of open issues shrinks as the team works, instead of piling up for the end of the season.

Finds B 14 to B 20 with their errors in red (missing sector, trench, level, date found) and warnings in yellow (no storage box)

Every change, with a name and a date

Every edit shows who made it and when, back through the years. Questions are asked and answered in comments on the record itself, so a decision made in the trench is still there when the report is written.

Can we see who changed what?
Yes. Every change shows who made it and when, and questions are answered in comments on the record itself. Because the system knows what data to expect, it also highlights missing information and flags conflicts, instead of leaving them to a manual check at the end of the season.
The edit history of locus 244, each change with its author and date, and a comment thread on a locus about soil samples

AI, checked by archaeologists

AI that follows your method

Notion's built-in AI works from your excavation's own documented method, not from guesses. It proposes; an archaeologist checks and validates every change before it counts.

Your method, written down once

The excavation's methodology and protocol live in the workspace. New team members read them there, and the AI follows them, for example to turn the protocol into the day's task list.

Where does AI come in, and who checks it?
Notion has AI built in. It helps transcribe and even translate the day's diary from a photo of the page and your own notes or audio, proposes changes to the Harris Matrix from the relationships the diary describes, and can draft an article from a mission's records. An archaeologist checks and validates every change before it counts.

Changes to the Harris Matrix, proposed from the diary

When the day's diary describes how new units relate to existing ones, written instructions turn those relations into proposed changes to the matrix, for the stratigraphic sequence and for the phases. The archaeologist reviews them before they are applied.

How is the Harris Matrix built?
From the stratigraphic relationships recorded in your context sheets, not drawn and maintained by hand. As the matrix takes shape, contradictions in those relationships are flagged, and the same sequence can be read unit by unit or gathered into the phases and periods you use to interpret the site.

From the records to a draft article

Ask for an article about a season and the AI reads the records themselves: the diary, the finds, the trenches and the photo albums. There is nothing to export and paste in, because it already knows where everything is.

…and from the article to a presentation

The same page can be presented as slides, in your own style, ready to share with colleagues or the public.

The season

Around the dig

An excavation is also travel, people, costs and permits. They can sit in the same workspace as the records, without exposing the records to anyone who does not need them.

Planning the mission

Missions, their dates and tasks on a timeline, the people and their roles, transport, costs and the equipment list, all in one place, so the next season starts from what the last one learned.

Can it help us plan the season?
An optional template runs the season around the dig, in the same workspace as the excavation records: missions and their permits, the people involved and their roles, the costs booked against them, and the travel and paperwork that make it happen.
A mission page with its timeline of tasks: ordering tools, driving to Korçë, picking people up from the airport, photographing artefacts

Recruiting the team

A public form shared on a website or social media invites experts and volunteers to apply. Their answers land in the workspace as records, while the excavation data stays private.

Can we recruit volunteers through it?
Yes. A public form shared on your website or social media invites experts and volunteers to join the next mission. Their answers arrive in the same workspace, without exposing any of the excavation data to the public.
An Apply for Volunteering form asking for name, contact, previous excavation experience, available dates and skills

Tools

And the tools built on top

Once the records are in place, we build the tools each excavation needs to read them back: the site in 3D, the Harris Matrix, phases and periods, material density, Munsell colours, LiDAR with total station points. They read straight from the workspace, with nothing to export.

See the tools
Find C 398 from Maligrad, a clay spindle whorl, as a 3D model built from three catalogue photographs and scaled to its real size.
Can we bring LiDAR scans, orthophotos and drone models?
Yes. LiDAR scans and orthophotos are georeferenced by setting points on them and entering their total station coordinates; with three or more points you can check the fit and see the error at each point. Every scan keeps its date, so a trench's scans play back on a timeline, and contour lines are drawn at whatever interval you set. Drone and camera models, orthophotos and LiDAR all sit in the same 3D space as your units and finds.
Can we record Munsell soil colours?
Yes. Hue, value and chroma are recorded as fields of their own on stratigraphic units and finds, not buried in a description, and the 3D scene uses them to colour each unit and find, so changes in the deposit show in the ground itself.
Can we draw on our own site plans?
Yes. Place and scale a photographic excavation plan in the 3D scene and draw stratigraphic units directly onto it; the plan stays in place as a reference while you map the units.
Do we need special equipment for the LiDAR photo plans?
The daily 3D photo plans at Torre dell'Alto were taken with the LiDAR built into an iPad, then georeferenced with the day's total station export. Following the trench's progress this way needs an iPad Pro or iPhone Pro with LiDAR.

Coming next

What we are working on next

Notion keeps evolving and every excavation we work with brings a new question. These are the next ones on our table.

  • Soil analysis

    Sample results recorded against the units they came from, and read across the site.

  • Bone analysis

    Zooarchaeological and skeletal data next to the context it was found in.

  • Spatial analysis

    Questions about where things are, asked of the records directly.

  • Connecting excavations

    Comparing material and sequences across sites, each team keeping its own records.

  • Quantitative statistics

    Counts, weights and distributions, ready for publication.

…and more like this, built together with the teams who need them.

Built for your excavation

No two excavations record the same way, so there is no one-size package. We start from how your team works today, set the workspace up around it, bring your records across, and build the tools your site needs. The first conversation is about your records, not about software.

Getting started

We set it up, move your records in, and help your team get going

Changing how a team records is the hard part, not the software. We do the setup and the move, and stay with your team until recording this way is faster than what you did before.

Get in touch