SEAD - The Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database
SEAD is an open access multiproxy environmental archaeology and palaeoecology database and software development project. The database contains the raw data from the scientific analysis of archaeological, Quaternary geological and related investigations, mainly from Sweden and Europe, but also to a lesser extent from outside of the EU. The raw data include counts of plant macrofossils, fossil insects and pollen along with geoarchaeological measurements and ceramic analyses. Dating methods stored range from calendar or coinage records, through radiocarbon (14C) and dendrochronology, to broad period definitions. SEAD is built around a flexible modular architecture and can be expanded to cope with any related material. Online/offline interfaces for data entry and extraction are available, including the advanced low level aggregation of data from multiple sites. The project is part of an international network of palaeoecology databases, and includes a large amount of modern reference, calibration and ecological data to aid interpretation.
Purpose:
The primary purposes of SEAD is the dissemination of scientific data from archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations. This includes the online publication of grey literature and its associated data (especially from the National Environmental Archaeology Lab in Umeå, Ceramics and Dendrochonology Labs in Lund) as well as databases previously not available online. SEAD also aims to provide powerful interrogation and analysis tools which allow users to identify trends and relationships through a multiple and broad range of datasets for looking at multi-scale environmental and climate change and human impact. SEAD also integrates modern ecology with the fossil data and provides a comprehensive bibliography, methods reference and site metadata.
Go to data source
Opens in a new tabhttp://sead.se/
Citation and access
Citation and access
Data access level:
Creator/Principal investigator(s):
- Philip Buckland - Umeå University - Environmental Archaeology Laboratory, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies
- Erik J Eriksson - Umeå University - Environmental Archaeology Laboratory, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies
- Karin Viklund - Umeå University - Environmental Archaeology Laboratory, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies
- Johan Linderholm - Umeå University - Environmental Archaeology Laboratory, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies
- Patrik Svensson - Umeå University - HUMlab
Research principal:
Data contains personal data:
No
Citation:
Method and outcome
Method and outcome
Population:
Extensive: Subfossil plant, insect and other species; geochemical and physical properties; dating; archaeological and Quarternary geological samples; taxa
Description of sampling:
The selection method used to import to the SEAD database is based on a peer-review system. Collected materials and data is uploaded to a screening platform where uploaded materials are reviewed and quality assured. At acceptance the material is merged with the public and official database.
Geographic coverage
Geographic coverage
Geographic description:
Primarily Europe, some data coverage globally.
Administrative information
Administrative information
Responsible department/unit:
Department of historical, philosophical and religious Studies
Topic and keywords
Topic and keywords
CESSDA Topic Classification:
Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2025:
Relations
Relations
Homepage:
Publications
Publications
Citation:
Buckland, P.I. 2010. SEAD - The Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database. An international research cyber-infrastructure for studying past changes in climate, environment and human activities. Journal of Northern Studies. No.1 2010.
Citation:
Buckland, P. I., Olofsson, J. & Engelmark, R. 2006. Planning Report: SEAD. Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database. MAL rapports nr. 2006-031. Environmental Archaeology Lab. Department of Archaeology & Sámi Studies
Citation:
Buckland, P.I. & Buckland, P.C. 2014. BugsCEP, an entomological database twenty-five years on. Antenna (Journal of the Royal Entomological Society) 38(1), 21-28.
Citation:
Palm, F. 2009. Abstracting query building for multi-entity faceted browsing. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2009, Volume 5822/2009, 53-63.
Citation:
Buckland, P.I. 2010. Environmental Archaeology, Climate Change and E-Science. Skytteanska Samfundets årsbok, Thule.
Citation:
Buckland, P.I., Eriksson, E.J., Linderholm, J., Viklund, K., Engelmark, R., Palm, F., Svensson, P., Buckland, P.C., Panagiotakopulu, E. & Olofsson, J. 2010. Integrating Human Dimensions of Arctic Palaeoenvironmental Science: SEAD - The Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38 (2), pp. 345-351.
Citation:
Buckland, P.I., Buckland, P.C. & Olsson, F. 2014. Paleoentomology: Insects and other Arthropods in Environmental Archaeology. In Smith, C., Lanteri, C., Reid, J., Smith, J. & Krauss, T.M. (in press). The Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer.
Citation:
Grabowski, R. 2011. Changes in cereal cultivation during the Iron Age in southern Sweden: a compilation and interpretation of the archaeobotanical material. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 20(5), 479-494.
Citation:
Buckland, P.I. 2014. The Bugs Coleopteran Ecology Package (BugsCEP) database: 1000 sites and half a million fossils later. Quaternary International Special Issue: Russell Coope Honorary volume.
Citation:
Eriksson, T. & Lindahl, A. 2013. The Handicrafts of Iron Age Pottery in Scandinavia: Regionalities and Traditions. Lund Archaeological Review 18 (2012), pp. 45-60
Citation:
Buckland, P.I. 2011. Freeing information to the people. International Innovation, EuroFocus, 2011 Issue 4: Nordic Spotlight, pp. 51-53.
Citation:
Buckland, P.I., Eriksson, E.J. & Palm, F. 2014. SEAD - The Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database, Progress Report Spring 2014. MAL reports nr. 2014-13. Environmental Archaeology Lab. Umeå University. 46 pp.
Links:
Citation:
Buckland, P. I. 2014. SEAD - The Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database. Inter-linking multiproxy environmental data with archaeological investigations and ecology. In: Graeme Earl, Tim Sly, Angeliki Chrysanthi, Patricia Murrieta-Flores, Constantinos Papadopoulos, Iza Romanowska & David Wheatley (Ed.), CAA2012, Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Southampton, England. Amsterdam.
Citation:
Buckland, P.I. & Buckland, P.C. 2012. Species found as fossils in Quaternary sediments. In Duff, A.G., Checklist of Beetles of the British Isles, 2nd Edition. A.G. Duff, Wells, Somerset, United Kingdom. pp. 127-130.
Links:
Citation:
Meissner, K., Buckland, P.I., Linderson, H. & Hammarlund, D. 2012. Pilotprojekt ”Dendro-databas” i SEAD April 2012-juni 2012. MAL rapporter nr. 2012-23. Umeå universitet & Lunds universitet. (In Swedish).
Citation:
Buckland, P.I. & Eriksson, E.J. 2014. Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database (SEAD). In Smith, C., Lanteri, C., Reid, J., Smith, J. & Krauss, T.M. (2014). The Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer.
