SMCC > Information for people working in museums > MATRIX - Rolling archaeology programme

MATRIX - the rolling archaeology programme

Project outline

The development structured, multi-annual programme of work with archaeological collections in the county of Surrey. The objectives of the project are to establish a network which will:

increase community involvement with archaeology
increase scientific knowledge of archaeology, with particular reference to its European context
diffuse knowledge of the past, using innovative and stimulating means, among the local and scientific communities.

Project description

We hope to build a sustainable, innovative rolling programme of work, perhaps in partnership with colleagues in Europe. Each museum’s collection will be segmented, by material type and age, and each segment dealt with in phases as follows

Phase 1: volunteers from the community will be encouraged, trained and supervised by museum professionals to enhance the physical storage of the objects and their documentation, to at least minimum standards
Phase 2: an archaeological specialist will examine the objects, and catalogue them. The condition of objects will be assessed, and recorded. This process will enable funding for conservation of objects to be targeted.
Phase 3: archaeological specialists will share their new appreciation of the object type with their colleagues in the other regions - through visits, videoconferencing, email etc.
Phase 4: the new knowledge will be disseminated in formats which are accessible to the local community, and to the scientific community - through conferences, exhibitions, websites, etc

In Surrey, it is estimated that the whole process. for all collections will take in excess of 25 years: funding is being sought for only the start-up stage of the process. This project will

demonstrate the viability of the process,
enhance the skills of the practitioners
develop sustainable partnerships which will enable the European context of archaeology to be continued as an important facet in the process

Types of partners sought

We are looking for two kinds of partners (a single partner could be of both kinds)

Type 1 - partners with collections of archaeological material which is poorly curated
Type 2 - partners who can contribute expertise: this could be subject specialist archaeological expertise, scientific conservation expertise, expertise in facilitating learning (particularly learning within communities).

Contributions sought from partners

Skills: working with communities, volunteer management, facilitating learning, archaeological scientific expertise, conservation expertise. Resources: during the first phase, partners would contribute all necessary resources for the work with their own collections. During the later phases, all partners would contribute resources. The proportion of resources contributed by each partner would reflect the size of collection (for partners with collections).

Milestones

It is proposed that one group of objects, for example, Medieval Tiles, is taken through to a final evaluation phase, with dissemination of the results of undertaking the project.
Two other groups, for example Slags and Prehistoric Flints, will also be processed during this timescale.

	Medieval Tiles	Slags (all periods)	Prehistoric Flints
Months 1-6	Phase 1
Months 6-12	Phase 2	Phase 1
Months 13-18	Phase 3	Phase 2	Phase 1
Months 19-24	Phase 4	Phase 3	Phase 2
Months 25-30	Evaluation	Phase 4	Phase 3

About SMCC:

SMCC is a local authority partnership, which, among other activities, co-ordniates large-scale initiatives among the museums of Surrey. There are over 35 museums, run by local authorities, the Ministry of Defence, and independent and charitable trusts.

Next steps:

Please contact us at Surrey Museums Consultative Committee for further details. The collections of Surrey Museums have been surveyed, and potential partners can be sent listings of the types and numbers of objects held in Surrey.