Archaeological Information System of The Czech Republic, Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Location: Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czechia

Contact: Petr Pajdla ( pajdla@arub.cz )

AIS CR serves as a central public service dedicated to securely managing archaeological data at the national level in the Czech Republic. It actively promotes the dissemination, synergistic utilisation, and accessibility of this data for both scientific and general purposes. By integrating various components of the archaeological information collection and distribution process, AIS CR addresses legal aspects related to fieldwork, supports education, and manages the preservation and availability of primary research data. These records are crucial as they represent the sole remaining documentation of archaeological contexts, many of which have been irreversibly impacted by construction activities. The main objective is to implement a universal information system within the practices of archaeological institutions, enrich it with additional data and facilitate its integration with other sources. Currently, AMCR contains essential information on all planned, ongoing, and completed fieldwork in the Czech Republic, along with their outcomes. AIS CR has established a dedicated team of data experts advocating for substantial changes in archaeological research approaches and archive management. Their efforts have significantly contributed to increasing the accessibility of Czech archaeological data through an open access regime. Furthermore, AIS CR actively participates in international research projects and initiatives, fostering data integration, promoting sharing standards, eliminating barriers to international data use, and disseminating best practices based on FAIR data principles in archaeological data archiving.

Services currently offered by the infrastructure

AIS CR is an umbrella platform encompassing tools and services designed for recording and managing archaeological fieldwork. It facilitates the publication of fieldwork-related data and documents, and offers a formal framework for citizen science operations and result recording. Additionally, AIS CR supports education, promotes data sharing, and advocates for best practices in the discipline. This unique set of services and information provided by AIS CR is valuable for research, teaching historical fields, and heritage care. It grants access to cultural heritage for conservation and tourism, aids in land-use planning, reduces costs associated with construction and industrial interventions, and advances digital humanities technologies. AIS CR offers linked and accessible information on archaeological heritage and the historical landscape, contributing to the formation of cultural identity. Centralised collection and provision of information on archaeological projects, fieldworks, and sites, including project documentation, fieldwork reports, photographs, maps, plans, and expert reports, empower public administration bodies and professional archaeologists to fulfil their obligations under the State Heritage Care Act.

AIS CR also assists development companies and investors in planning and assessing risks in areas of interest. The AIS CR team provides training and lectures to the archaeological community, the citizen science community and the public, and offers expertise in archival processing of documents and in data stewardship in general.

What can you work on during your TNA visit?

A one-week TNA visit to AIS CR in Brno can be tailored to the visitor’s research interests, professional background and specific needs. Rather than following a fixed training programme, visitors can work directly with AIS CR experts on a selected topic or on a concrete data-management or digital research challenge related to their own research or institution.

Possible areas of work include:

• Archaeological data management and FAIRification – exploring workflows for organising, documenting, preserving and publishing archaeological research data according to FAIR principles.
• Digital archaeological archives and repositories – hands-on introduction to the Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic (AMCR) and the AMCR Digital Archive, including workflows for managing fieldwork documentation, legacy data and born-digital records.
• Data stewardship and institutional RDM – discussing practical approaches to research data management, data policies, responsibilities, metadata, licensing, repository selection and long-term preservation.
• FAIR and open archaeological data – working with metadata standards, persistent identifiers, data licensing, interoperability and approaches to making archaeological datasets findable, accessible and reusable.
• Citizen science and archaeological data – exploring AMCR-PAS as a case study of integrating data created through cooperation between professional archaeology and the public into a national archaeological information infrastructure.
• Digital processing and enrichment of archaeological archives – exploring approaches to digitisation, OCR/HTR, structuring and automated enrichment of archaeological documentation and legacy collections, including methods supporting advanced search and reuse.
• Computer vision and machine learning for archaeological images – exploring the use of computer vision and machine-learning methods for the analysis, classification and retrieval of archaeological images. Visitors can experiment with workflows for preparing and annotating image datasets, training and evaluating image-classification models, and applying AI-assisted approaches to large archaeological image collections. Depending on their interests and experience, they may work with AIS CR data or bring their own image dataset and use case.

Where appropriate, visitors are encouraged to bring their own dataset, workflow, institutional policy or data-management problem and use the stay to develop a practical solution together with AIS CR specialists.

A typical visit may combine individual consultations, hands-on work with AIS CR tools and workflows, discussions with data specialists and archaeologists, and focused work on the visitor’s own use case. The precise programme is agreed in advance according to the visitor’s objectives.

Who is the visit for?

The TNA is particularly suitable for archaeologists, digital humanities researchers, data stewards, repository and archive professionals, heritage specialists, and researchers or research-support staff interested in archaeological data management, digital archives, FAIR data, and computational methods for archaeological research.

No previous experience with AIS CR is required. The content of the visit can be adapted to different levels of technical expertise.

For more information on the Applications Process, please see the page for Individual Access .