The information you contribute to the Finds Hub is owned by you. However, by agreeing to the terms and conditions, you also agree to a Licence which gives the Boundary Objects project team permission to use the information you contribute. Further details about the terms and conditions can be found here.

Grave goods are the objects buried directly with the dead at funerary ceremonies. This could include objects that were important to the dead person, objects from the funerary process itself, objects for an afterlife, objects that depict how a funerary party wanted to imagine the person they were burying, or objects that represent the identities of mourners themselves. During the Prehistoric Grave Goods Project, we also came across many objects associated with burial sites that weren't strictly speaking grave goods but were still very interesting. Find out more here!

The 'Link from search' option is really useful if you want to link just one object and one site record. Simply click on an object record from the task list or of your own choice, then click on the 'Link from search' button within this object record. This will take you to the search page of the Finds Hub. The object record you have chosen will be clearly labelled as a 'Link target' at the top of the search page. Use the 'Datasets' option to select only datasets with site-based records from the relevant geographical area. Then search using useful search terms identified from the object record, for example search for PLACENAME, PARISH using the 'all words' search option. If you locate the discovery site for your find in the search output list, you can link these records by clicking on the 'link' symbol button on the right hand side of the site record, next to the bookmark button. Your object and site(s) will now be linked. If you go back to your detailed object record, the links should now be listed under the 'Links and Identifiers' tab. Remember that the more relevant site records you can link your object to (if possible, the Canmore, HER, and Scheduling records), the better!

The 'Link from the Map' option can be helpful if you know that a site record exists for your find, and you know where it is but not what it is called in Canmore or in the HER. This option works best if you want to link just one object with one or more site records. To use the 'Link from the Map' option, click on an object record from the task list or of your own choice, then click on the 'Link from the Map' button within this object record. This will take you to the map page of the Finds Hub. The object record you have chosen will be clearly labelled as the 'Link target' at the top of the search page. Find your discovery site on the map, and have a look at the site-based records at this location. You may find one or more relevant site records - in some cases, the Canmore, HER, and Scheduling records for the site. Once you have decided which site record(s) should be linked to your object, click on the 'Link record' button for each of your chosen site record(s). Again, if you go back to your object record, the links should now be listed under the 'Links and Identifiers' tab.

Most of the object records listed in the Finds Hub tasks can be linked to records for their discovery sites. However, some cannot because a digital record of the discovery site doesn't exist yet or because it is not yet in the Finds Hub. If you have tried but failed to link a find to its discovery site please click on the object record and make a note of this in the comment box under the 'Other Information' tab. This information will help other Finds Hub contributors know if a failed attempt has already been made to link this find record to its discovery site. It can tell data providers about discovery sites that they are currently missing from their collections. It can also be a starting point for further investigations into the 'missing' site using archival material, for instance the British Newspaper Archive.

To zoom in and out incrementally, use the + and - buttons at the top left hand corner of the map. If you want to look at a particular 'window' of the map, hold down the shift key and draw a box around the area you are interested in with your mouse.

It's easy to see if a link has already been made between an object and its discovery site (or between records of one discovery site made in different data collections). A log of links already made appears on the right hand side of 'found' records in task and free search lists. If an object has already been linked to a site record in one digital collection (e.g. Canmore), it may still be possible (and very helpful) to link it to a site record in another digital collection (e.g. Highland HER).

If a discovery site has produced several finds and not all of these are picked up on in a Finds Hub 'Task' it is possible that one find from an assemblage (e.g. a Beaker pot) will already be linked to the site record but not all of the finds (e.g. an accompanying wrist guard and flint flake). It is fine to link these other object records to the discovery site record at a later date.

Yes - definitely! Although linking records for the same site from separate datasets isn't a key aim of the Finds Hub, this is still very important. Different records of the same archaeological site may include different information about the site. It is also important for data providers to know if it is not possible to find a matching site records in different datasets, for instance if a discovery site is represented in Aberdeenshire HER but not in Canmore. You can make a note of this in the 'Other information' tab in the site record. The process for linking different records of the same site is the same as that for linking object records to their discovery sites.

Of course! Our core aim is to use the Finds Hub to link as many finds records as possible to at least one site record so that key information about these finds (their location and context of discovery) is much more easily accessible for everyone. If the same finds record is linked to records for its discovery site in two separate datasets (e.g. Canmore and Highland HER) this is even better!

As well as linking object records to site records, the Finds Hub can be used to link site records in one dataset to site records in another dataset. This is important because the information about archaeological sites often varies between different digital collections. When the data was imported into the Finds Hub from the various data providers, existing links between site records in different data collections (e.g. in Canmore and in Aberdeenshire HER) were recorded as links in the Finds Hub. If a link was made between site records in one dataset (e.g. between a Highland HER record and a Canmore record) but not in the opposite direction (e.g. between Canmore and the Highland HER record) in the imported data, the reverse link was made during the import process so that, when data providers download these data from the Finds Hub, the link will be present in both datasets.

Highland HER have structured their information for discovery sites so that there is an overall site record - the 'parent' record, covering all of the archaeology in one location - and also separate records for different aspects of the archaeology from this location - 'child' records. When you are linking your finds record to a Highland HER discovery site with more than one site record, it is most important to link the find record to the 'parent' site record. You can check which one this is by looking at the 'Related Monuments/Buildings' section within the site record on the Highland HER website (click on the 'View this record on the Highland Council Historic Environment Record website' link at the top of the detailed site record). For 'parent' records, the 'Related Monuments/Buildings' section will list the 'child' records that this site record is 'Parent of'; for 'child' records, the 'Related Monuments/Buildings' section will note that the site record is 'Part of' another parent record. Please note: it may be possible to link your finds record to a 'child' record (e.g. for a cist within a 'parent' cist cemetery) as well!