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The 2012 Season of the Chan Chich Archaeological Project
form. This form requires very little information,
but it brings in data from lower level forms as
the database is expanded. Before excavations
began, the supervisor then creates an Operation
Definition form. This form requires the user
to select from a list of previously designated
sites, which is based on the Site Summary
forms. For each excavation unit then opened at
a particular operation, the supervisor creates a
Subop Definition form, which requires the user
to select from a list of previously designated
operations. Finally, each lot in a suboperation
gets a Lot Form, again requiring the user to
first select from a list of previously established
subops (Figure 7.1). In all cases,
when the user selects the next higher
level of provenience from a drop
down list (i.e., subop for each Lot
form), the database automatically
fills in the remaining information on
provenience. For example, to create
a new lot, the user selects from
an existing list of subops, and the
database automatically supplies the
appropriate operation designation
and site name.
(Sample form, Burial form, Individual-Burial
form, and Cache form). By setting up a series
of relationships, it is possible for these various
forms to interact with each other (Figure 7.2).
Another crucial field form is the Photolog.
While a Photolog form was created in
FileMaker Pro, excavators entered their photo
information on a Numbers (an Excel like app)
spreadsheet on the iPad. Numbers allows copy,
paste, and fill actions that speed up data entry.
The Numbers spreadsheets then were exported
as Excel files and imported into FileMaker Pro
(see From Theory to Reality below). While this
As lower level forms are created in
the system, they supply information
to the higher level forms. For
example, when a new Lot form is
created, certain information from
that form appears on the related
Subop Definition form. Each new
Suboperation Definition form,
similarly, supplies information to
the appropriate Operation Definition
form, which in turn populates
information on the Site Summary
form. This is the benefit and the
power of a relational database.
Other field forms provide either
operation-specific information (List
of Datums form and Field Drawings
form) or lot-specific information
Figure 7.1.
Blank iPad version of a Lot form for Kaxil Uinic,
with pull-down menu listing all the subops that had
been created previously.
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