Pottery, Standards, and Sustainability: Digital Archiving with iDAI.field and the SPP Recording Scheme

This article presents a workflow for the standardized documentation and digital archiving of archaeological pottery data in the German Archaeological Institute’s database system iDAI.field, based on the recording scheme by Jesse and Nowotnick (2021). The configuration for iDAI.field enables direct data entry following the scheme, while the Field-Pottery-Converter allows the transformation of legacy datasets from the standardized Excel spreadsheets into the structured format of the database application for sustainable storage. This process ensures consistent documentation, reduces manual errors, and enhances interoperability across projects. The resulting datasets are prepared for long-term preservation and can be published via iDAI.field Web, contributing to accessible, reusable archaeological data in line with the FAIR principles.