Online dissemination of 3D bioarchaeological data: An exploration of ethics, user preferences, and contextualisation in an official digital repository setting

The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) is a UK-based, CoreTrustSeal accredited digital repository for archaeological and historic environmental data. The ADS increasingly receives archives that include digital bioarchaeological data (e.g. 3D models of burials). This project explores how ADS users prefer to be presented with this type of data and investigates how these preferences can inform the ADS's protocol for the dissemination of digital bioarchaeological data. A Qualtrics survey was shared online in June/July 2023 (344 participants included). The majority of respondents thought that 1) content advisory should appear before viewing human remains (66.0%), 2) contextual information should accompany 3D models of human remains (94.2%), 3) archive-specific ethics statements should be included (50.9%), and 4) users should be reminded to reuse bioarchaeological data with respect before downloading 3D models (65.1%). The survey results informed the development of a series of suggestions for how the ADS might proceed with regard to providing content advisories, prioritising contextualisation of individuals, addressing ethical considerations specific to an excavation/project, and including a reminder requesting users to consider the human behind the data. Some enhancements were made on an ADS archive to serve as a case study for how the ADS workflow can be potentially modified in the future. This focused on improving contextualisation by linking 3D models with excavation photographs and context sheets and the development of an interactive cemetery map. The complications of implementing this standard of contextualisation are discussed and thoughts on how the ADS, data depositors, and the developers who finance excavations can proceed with regards to the dissemination of digital bioarchaeological are presented.