This can be employed in both manual and computer-based systems. For possible approaches to implementation, see Chapter 4 . Archaeological items are the fundamental pieces of archaeology which may be individual artefacts and ecofacts, components of sites and monuments such as walls and post-holes or even complete monuments depending on levels appropriate to the objectives of the data. The framework enables archaeological items with known archaeological relationships or associations to be brought together as archaeological groups. Examples might include the set of flint flakes, tools and the core that form a flint nodule after refitting or the sherds that form a ceramic vessel.
Archaeological items occupy physical spaces in the real world.
For example, the physical spaces used in an excavation record would be the contexts excavated and in a site inventory they might be areas of land with statutory protection. A physical group is a collection of two or more physical spaces which form larger physical spaces within which archaeological items and groups may occur. Examples might include the grouped set of areas of land that constitute a statutorily protected monument or the group of excavation levels or contexts which make up a ditch and its fill. They need not be contiguous, as for instance where parts of a linear feature are divided by modern intrusions which totally destroy the archaeology. Physical spaces should not overlap with other physical spaces although on rare occasions they may appear to where data is imprecise or inaccurate.