Questions
Frequently asked questions
- What is Excavate.it?
- Excavate.it is a service for archaeological excavations. We set up all of an excavation's records in one Notion workspace, linked to each other: finds, stratigraphic units, photographs, storage boxes, the diary and reports. Then we build tools that read those records back, such as a generated Harris Matrix and a 3D view of the site.
- Who is it for?
- Excavation teams: directors and project leads, field archaeologists, specialists such as ceramicists and conservators, universities and research institutes, heritage authorities, and commercial archaeology units.
- Does my team need to know Notion?
- No. We set up the workspace for your excavation before you start, move your records in, and help your team until recording in it is faster than what you did before. Notion is quick to pick up, and many people already use it.
- Can we bring our existing records?
- Yes. Most excavations arrive with years of paper records, spreadsheets, survey files, and photographs. The migration reads the archive as it actually exists, works out where each column and code belongs, and flags anything that does not map cleanly instead of guessing.
- Who owns the data?
- You do, or whoever the records belong to: the excavation, the cooperative, the company or the authority that commissioned the work. The workspace is set up in that organisation's name and run by its administrators, and we work in it only as invited members. Notion's terms are clear that customers own their content, and everything can be exported at any time.
- Our records belong to a client or an authority. Can we still use it?
- Yes, and that is the safest way to start. The workspace belongs to the organisation that owns the records, which decides who is invited and what each person can see or change. Our team only has the access it is given, and it can be removed at any time. Nothing leaves the workspace unless its owners export or share it.
- Who can see our records?
- Only the people invited, each with the access they need: full access, edit, comment or view only, for the whole workspace, a teamspace or a single page. Outside specialists can be invited as guests to just the pages they work on. On Notion's Business and Enterprise plans, a database can also limit each record to the people it belongs to and hide sensitive columns. Nothing is public unless you publish it.
- Is it GDPR-compliant, and where is the data stored?
- Notion maps its privacy program to the GDPR, offers a Data Processing Addendum, and is certified to SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001, 27701, 27017 and 27018. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and Notion's AI providers are not allowed to train on it. On the Enterprise plan, a workspace can be kept in the EU, in Frankfurt.
- Can we keep our own backups?
- Yes. Notion backs up page content every minute, keeps deleted pages in its trash for 30 days, and lets you restore earlier versions of a page (30 days on Plus, 90 on Business, without limit on Enterprise). Any workspace can be exported in full, as Markdown and CSV with the uploaded files. On top of that, we can set up a weekly or monthly export through the Notion API that copies every record into a documented schema of your own, so a complete, structured copy is always kept outside Notion, where you choose.
- What happens if we stop using Excavate.it or Notion?
- Your records stay in your own Notion workspace, and you can keep using them without us. If you leave Notion too, everything can be exported: as Markdown and CSV with the uploaded files, or in full through the Notion API, record by record, into any database or format you choose. Our tools store none of your data: they only read and visualise what is already in your Notion workspace, using its structure, so switching them off loses nothing.
- What tools come with it?
- A Harris Matrix generated from the stratigraphic relationships in your context sheets, with contradictions flagged. A 3D view of the site with every find where it was found, units grouped into phases and periods, material density heatmaps, and Munsell soil colours. Georeferenced LiDAR and orthophotos with total station points, a LiDAR timeline of each trench, and contour lines. Pages of the handwritten excavation diary can be scanned and transcribed, with every unit and find they mention linked to its record.
- Which excavations use it?
- Excavate.it was built with the Greek-Albanian excavation at Maligrad on Lake Prespa in Albania, run by I.DI.PO.S., and with the excavation at Torre dell'Alto in Italy, with the Department of History and Cultures of the University of Bologna.
- How do we get started?
- Tell us how your excavation records today, what you already have from previous seasons, and what you need out of it. The first conversation is about your records, not about software.
Where to start
Tell us how your excavation records today
The useful first conversation is not about software. It is about what your season actually runs on, what you already have piled up from previous ones, and what you have never been able to get out of it.