{"id":356,"date":"2026-04-16T12:08:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/?page_id=356"},"modified":"2026-05-10T09:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T09:16:18","slug":"the-anchurus-ii-applications-and-it-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/?page_id=356","title":{"rendered":"The Anchurus II applications and IT infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This page of the user manual provides an overview of the applications used by and supplied with Anchurus II, and the IT Infrastructure you need to put in place in order to use it. You should use it as a check list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice of applications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>The user manual page: Anchurus II supports the archaeological workflow<\/em> shows that this system provides a lot of functionality. One of the design objectives of this system is that it is simple to learn and use. Anchurus II meets this objective by choosing a minimum number of applications and then providing explanations of how best to use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anchurus II applications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anchurus II uses the following applications:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shared drive<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A shared drive is a network drive which allows everybody involved in fieldwork on site and during post excavation to share data files. Typically this service is supported on either an organisations\u2019 private server and network or it is provided by a third party network service. There are many such systems readily available, they include product offerings such as Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideally, each site should have a separate shared drive to hold all the digital files used to manage, record and interpret archaeological fieldwork. Key features of such a drive is that it allows you to create a wide ranging structure of folders and the ability to manage who in your team can access what in that folder structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anchurus contribution to helping you create a shared drive is to provide a comprehensive structure of folders that will enable you to log all the digital data created during fieldwork on a site.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A database<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A database is used to hold and manipulate the key data collected during the on-site work and all the additional data that is generated during post excavation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anchurus II is built on the fully functional MariaDB relational database management system. The benefits of using MariaDB are that it is free and that it supports the four core principles of atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability (ACID) that ensure the reliability of database transactions.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anchurus II web application<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This application enables large teams of people to access the database and ensures that the data they are inputting to the database meets a defined set of integrity rules. As you input data using this application, it presents you with the relevant rules that it checks thereby improving the quality of the data held in the database. The web application also provides reports and queries so that, as you develop your interpretation of your archaeological site, you can check that the details held in the database support your interpretation.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anchurus user manual<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is an integral part of the Anchurus system; it is presented on the Anchurus website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Draw IO drawing package<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is a third party application which has been specialised so you can draw archaeological matrices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, during an excavation you draw and redraw stratigraphic matrices which record the contexts that you have identified, recorded and excavated. During post excavation, you can draw additional Harris and other matrices which record your interpretation of the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each matrix is held in a file stored on the shared drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QGIS graphic information system<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is used to record plans of the site, of anomalies found in the results of geophysics, Lidar and topographical surveys, of contexts, and of the position of section drawings and special finds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anchurus II separates these activities into two groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Recording activities: which enable you to use the facilities in GQIS to geoposition and draw plan outlines and save them as shape files in folders on the shared drive<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Browsing activities: which encourage you to view combinations of the above to help interpret the site<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Other third party applications<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The above components integrate with a range of third party applications chosen because they are widely used by the teams using Anchurus II and\/or are freely available. These applications are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Office applications to produce reports, presentations and spreadsheets, typically the Microsoft Office Suite<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Drawing and photographic applications such as Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Geophysics data processing applications such as Snuffler<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Using these components<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Figure 3.1 shows the components in their operational settings. All the applications run on your laptop machine. The Anchurus II web application runs on a server with the user interface being presented to you via a browser. The User manual is presented via the Anchurus web site which also runs on a server as is the shared drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      All the applications use data held in the shared drive, however depending on the speed of your interface access you may want to hold copies of files in your laptop\u2019s filestore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"
      Figure 3.1 The Anchurus II applications<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Andrew Hutt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Version v03<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      17th<\/sup> April 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Summary This page of the user manual provides an overview of the applications used by and supplied with Anchurus II, and the IT Infrastructure you need to put in place in order to use it. You should use it as a check list. The choice of applications The user manual page: Anchurus II supports the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-356","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=356"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458,"href":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/356\/revisions\/458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anchurus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}