Hannah Gwyther, Knossos Curation Project, The British School at Athens, Knossos The Knossos Curatorial Project aims to create catalogue records for the Stratigraphical Museum holdings, using the software EMu. At Knossos we are using the Catalogue module, linking our collections with records created within the Thesaurus, Bibliography, Collection Events and other modules utilised by the British School at Athens. Recently we have been trialling data entry through the Sapphire interface. I plan to discuss both the challenges we are facing with using a combination of a remote desktop and Sapphire, as well as some of the solutions we have adopted that might prove useful to the wider community of EMu / Sapphire users.

1. KNOSSOS CURATION PROJECT
BRITISH SCHOOL AT ATHENS, CRETE, GREECE
Axiell European User Conference 2017, 3-5 May 2017, Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

2. BSA KNOSSOS
• Knossos is a major focus
of the British School's
involvement in Greece
since 1900.
• One of the premier
archaeological sites in
Europe.
• Continuous occupation
from the Neolithic
through to the Late
Roman period.
Image: Garden at the BSA Knossos Taverna

3. The Stratigraphical Museum
• The holdings of the
Stratigraphical Museum at
Knossos constitute one of
the most important
archaeological collections in
the Aegean.
• Approximately 10,000 boxes
of material, principally
pottery.
• Material from various British
excavations at Knossos, and
more limited bodies of
material from sites
elsewhere in Crete.
• The collections are evolving,
they are constantly in the
process of publication and
reassessment.
Image: The Knossos Stratigraphical Museum

4. The Curation Project, 2008-
Preserve - Produce - Connect - Create - Facilitate - Identify - Accessibility
• Boxes as Parents, with
the archaeological
material forming the
Child records within.
• Child can either be one
artefact or a grouping,
depending on how
they are found.
• Classified according to
material type, i.e.
Pottery, Stone, Bone,
Shell, Terracotta etc.
• Currently processed:
Parent: 7,545
Child: 43,383
Neither: 205
Image: The Collections of the Stratigraphical Museum

5. Using EMu
• Digitising a variety of
collections on a small
budget.
• Harmonising
collections including:
archives; artefacts;
library holdings;
membership details
and scientific
collections.
• Knossos uses a
remote desktop to the
server in Athens.
• Catalogue Module for
entry.
• Tabs used: Summary;
Location; Arch/Ethno;
Materials;
Multimedia; Notes;
References;
Relationships.

6. Linking to departments in Athens
• References tab links to
the Bibliography
module - Library
department.
• Within the
Bibliography tab the
author links to the
Parties module, for
our members.
• Locality in Arch/Ethno
tab links to Sites
module - IT
department , then
used to map in Google
maps.
• Locality will be linked
to the Collection
Events and Events
modules, used by
Athens to track
permits and different
excavations.

7. Museums and Archives Online (MAO)
• EMu data entry, instantly
visible in MAO.
• Arch/Ethno tab and Sites
module are linked to
Google maps.

8. Using a Remote Desktop - Knossos
• Main problems with
time efficiency are in
the Multimedia tab.
• To attach multimedia
we copy edited images
to the remote desktop
then drag and drop.
• Time consuming
process, further slowed
by poor internet
connection.
• For 20 images it can
take well over an hour
to copy across.
• Lower quality of
images used to speed
up the process.
• Limited computers
available for staff
means a lull in
workflow while waiting
for an upload.

9. Uploading Images to Remote Desktop
• Poor connection
or a large file
results in
‘’unspecified
error.’’
• Time consuming
and unproductive.
• Any advice for
uploading
images?
• Been trialling
Sapphire to assist
with increasing
work stations and
streamlining
process.

10. Solutions?
• Here I am trying
to upload via a
link on my
regular desktop
- Still 50
minutes.
• Can use the
remote desktop
during this
process but it is
slow and the
upload crashes.
• Hoping to find a
way of speeding
up attachment
process in
Multimedia.

11. Sapphire Interface - Pros
• Direct entry
from any
computer with
internet
access.
• Streamlined
entry fields, no
waiting for
different tabs
to open.
• Mobile, use
tablet/laptop.
• Good
approach for
basic
information.

12. Sapphire Interface – Cons
and Queries?
• Cannot search/load
record with
multimedia
attached.
• Cannot annotate
images.
• Cannot add
citations or
locations.
• Partial Sapphire
entry/partial EMu =
increased possibility
of error.
• Poor internet
connection a cause?
• Q - Ditto function?
• Q - Upgrades?
• Q – Taking images
directly from a
tablet?

13. Concluding Thoughts
• When working across various departments with
different collections and locations, a standardised form
of input becomes essential.
• Careful planning to ensure effective and relevant
cataloguing, which links and connects all important
data.
• Hoping to streamline our entry systems and where
possible use an interface such as Sapphire, to avoid the
time consuming loading of different tabs.
• Ideally at Knossos we will switch to photographing the
artefact directly into EMu, saving time by avoiding the
uploading process.

14. Thank you!!
Image: The garden of the Villa Ariadne, Knossos