The Database

Site and feature information, along with report and link details, are stored in a SQL Server database maintained by the Maryland Department of Planning. The database was created by a team at the MAC Lab, including Annette Cook, Alex Glass, Patricia Samford, and Ed Chaney, during 2016.

At the beginning of the project, the proposed data structures were converted into a database schema and set of data entry forms, in Microsoft Access, by Rebecca Morehouse of the MAC Lab and Gregory Brown of the Maryland Historical Trust. Once data entry was completed by staff members Annette Cook and Alex Glass of the MAC Lab, the data was carefully checked over, and the database was transferred into a SQL Server database at the Maryland Department of Planning (the MAC Lab's parent agency). This database has been used as the data store for the published web site.

The paper form used as a worksheet prior to data entry is shown below. Feature-related information was entered for each feature; more general site-specific information about the sites themselves was also entered, along with bibliographic information about each report or set of field notes used in the process.

"Site summaries" were created for each site by the project staff, often using information from the Maryland Historical Trust Archeological Synthesis Project or from site forms submitted to the Maryland Historical Trust.

Those with specific questions about the data collection process should contact Patricia Samford, Director of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory, at [email protected].