Design and build a data management system for archeological records

Organisation

Te Pūnaha Matatini

Location

Auckland

Project description

In this project you can expect to learn about archaeology, network analysis, anthropology, and database management, all in the space of a single summer.

Thegn Ladefoged (anthropology) and Dion O’Neale (physics) are investigators in Te Pūnaha Matatini, collaborating on a project that uses information from obsidian artefacts to infer social networks in pre-European Aotearoa.

The project has reached a stage where it is producing large amounts of data from different sources and we need to set up a database, and design data management protocols, to store the records associated with the research.

Once things are up and running you’ll be writing scripts to populate the database with records; to import new data as it comes available; and to run tests to make sure that everything is hunky-dory.

Skills required

Familiarity working with databases and SQL is desirable, but not absolutely necessary, though you’ll need to be able to pick it up as you go. You will be using a programming language like Python or R, so it is highly desirable that you have ability for that. Most importantly, you’ll be documenting the system as you go, so it will be essential that you have clear and precise writing.