This is critical since digital records are increasingly used to hold primary data from field and lab, documentation, and interpretation which provide evidence for how conclusions were achieved. One of the aims of this Digital Archiving Guide to Good Practice is to provide information on the best way to prepare and deposit this material safely in a digital archive facility for future use. These documents emphasise the importance of curation and maintenance of archaeological archives. They do not deal with digital archives in detail but form a basis which this Guide to Good Practice takes forward. Access to archaeological archives is currently difficult as finds and documentary material are dispersed to repositories throughout the country.
Archives are, however, still too difficult to access.
Much more detail could be indexed, and the second aim of these Guidelines is to offer recommendations for the creation of a computerised index of archives, whether digital or not . Access is not the only reason that existing archaeological archives are under-utilised. Too often archives are seen as the final resting place for archaeological information, rather than a stage in the cycle of information gathering and re-use. Archives form a vital and living part of the archaeological resource, and should be queried during later research projects. Current government planning guidance in the UK emphasises a preference for preservation as opposed to excavation, so increasingly the role of the archaeological archive is moving to centre stage.