SMART PROJECT & RESOURCES

Getting SMART

(Society for Museum Archaeology Resources and Training Project)

The Society for Museum Archaeology (SMA)  received an award of £49,413 from Arts Council England (ACE) in response to its application to the ACE Subject Specialist Networks Funding Programme, 2018-20.  The funding was provided to deliver the SMART Project (Society for Museum Archaeology Resources and Training Project)  SMART Standards & Guidance PRESS RELEASE

Communicating Archaeology: Case studies in  the use of, and engagement with, archaeological collections

This series of case studies has been compiled and published by SMA to provide an online downloadable resource that will afford museum archaeologists and others, insights into the wide range of use and engagement activities that archaeological collections are used to deliver.  Funding for this work was provided by an underspend across the SMART project so SMA must once again thank Arts Council England for its Subject Specialist Network Fund grant  that enabled this publication to be commissioned . SMA would also like to  thank the individual contributors and organisations who were prepared to share their experience, knowledge, skills and understanding  with us for the benefit of others, especially at a time when the world is gripped by a global pandemic.

NB – this resource is also available to download from the Collections Trust website: Communicating Archaeology – Collections Trust

 Resources: Standards & Guidance

SMA’s new Standards and Guidance in the Care of Archaeological  Collections seek to update the 1992 Standards in the Museum Care of Archaeological Collections, one of a series of guidance documents produced by the Museum and Galleries Commission in 1992. Although the 1992 Standards remain a useful guide, they are recognised as being outdated and no longer reflect the reality of archaeology collections management in light of a rapidly changing sector. It is hoped that this new document will provide accessible and up to date guidance for all those who work with archaeological collections, whether professionally or voluntarily, subject specialist or not, to current best practice.

DOWNLOAD SMA Standards and Guidance in the Care of Archaeological  Collections 

Resources: Material Factsheets

SMA’s new Standards and Guidance in the Care of Archaeological  Collections are supported by a series of Material Factsheets which may also be downloaded – links are provided below in alphabetical order.

Botanical Materials

Ceramics

Collections Packaging & Silica Gel

Composite Objects

Faunal Materials

Glass

Human Remains

Leather

Metals (Ferrous)

Metals (Non-Ferrous)

Stone

Textiles

Thin Sections

Waterlogged Materials

Resources: workshop videos

The SMART regional workshop which took place in Newcastle was filmed so that content could be shared with all those who could not attend: links to each of the sessions are provided below.

The care & management of archaeological collections.
How to manage archaeological archives.
Introduction to the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
Introduction to the Treasure process.
How to use archaeological collections beyond display.

To promote the interests of archaeology in museums throughout the United Kingdom