Since Open Context launched in 2006, it has published over 2.2 million records from nearly 200 projects and sub-projects, representing the work of more than 1,600 scholars working in 100 countries in all inhabited continents, as well as data from “off world” sites like the International Space Station! As of December 2024, these 2.2 million records include more than 187,000 images, illustrations, and 3D models. According to Google Scholar, Open Context has been cited over 600 times since its inception.
The most significant source of Open Context’s growth over the past year came from a major new data publication of global archaeological radiocarbon dates by Darcy Bird and colleagues. Radiocarbon dates represent a fundamentally important source of evidence for timing and pace of change in the archaeological past. This dataset is archaeology’s largest single database of unique radiocarbon dates. Darcy Bird and colleagues spent years compiling and de-duplicating radiocarbon dates from several other databases, publications and reports. Publication through Open Context further enhanced this dataset by referencing key bioinformatics standards and gazetteers. These enhancements link these radiocarbon dates to a much wider world of scientific information.
In addition to this vast new dataset, the Open Context team worked closely with several data contributors to further expand, build-up, and enhance several other publication projects. Some highlights include:
- Publication of thousands of additional stratigraphic and artifact descriptions from Tall al-‘Umayri, a key archaeological site documenting Bronze Age, Iron Age and later periods in Jordan. This project is led by Doug Clark and Larry Herr.
- Publication of new excavation results describing excavation deposits and artifacts from Poggio Civitate, a major settlement south of Siena Italy documenting the emergence of Etruscan civilization. This project is led by Anthony Tuck and Katharine R. Kreindler.
Finally, we’re very excited to see Open Context more firmly integrated into research in a variety of ways. Thanks to ongoing funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Open Context now partners with key scientific data infrastructures (especially iSamples and Neotoma) supporting research in evolutionary biology and biogeography, geology, and more.
Open Context has now repeatedly demonstrated how it can help increase the research value and impact of books while reducing their costs. Open Context has published over 1500 images of Hellenistic era administrative sealings to accompany the recent volume University of Michigan and University of Minnesota Excavations at Tel Kedesh I: The Hellenistic Archive and its Sealings, by Sharon Herbert.
More significantly, the 2024 publication of David Pettegrew’s Corinthian Countrysides: Linked Open Data and Analysis from the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey highlights the potential of integrating Open Context published data and book publication. As Pettegrew explained: “The publication itself makes available a wholly new source of information for talking about the history of the Corinthian countryside … I scaffolded the book to encourage the reuse of the project data, and if you read the book from start to finish, you’ll have all you need to play with the archaeological data.”
As we head into the New Year, we also want to express our gratitude to our colleagues and the granting foundations that make this work possible. Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Mellon Foundation, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for supporting our current programs. Finally, we want to express our excitement and gratitude to the National Science Foundation for a new grant in 2024 that will provide Open Context direct support to expand the scale and quality of archaeological data publication.
