Advanced Search: Help

This Advanced Search form is designed to help you specify the exact categories of data required to perform a detailed search on the LAARC database. More detailed help is available in the online help.

Advanced Search: Location (name or area)

Enter site name (either historic or current building; e.g., Courage Brewery) or site address (e.g., 1-13 Copthall Court, EC2) to retrieve records for a specific site.

Keep search terms general (e.g., entering Throgmorton rather than 31 Throgmorton Street to allow records identified as 30-35 Throgmorton Street to be returned).

Advanced Search: Borough

Using the drop-down menu, enter the borough name to retrieve records for a particular administrative unit. To search for information from more than one borough use the Site Related Keyword field and separate borough names using commas (e.g., Camden, Islington).

Advanced Search: National Grid Map Reference

Enter the National Grid Reference for the site. To split a grid reference into its 'Easting' and 'Northing' split the number of digits in two (e.g., if there are six digits (323 803) enter the first three (323) as the Easting and last three as the Northing (803).

Year of excavation

Refine your search by entering the year in which the fieldwork was undertaken. When entering a year refer to it in full (e.g., 1982 not 82).

Advanced Search: Organisation Responsible (Excavator)

Many different organisations have carried out fieldwork in Greater London over the past hundred years. Enter the full name or approved abbreviation to search for projects carried out by a particular organisation.

Advanced Search: Archaeological Period(s)

Using the drop-down menu, select the archaeological period you are interested in. Alternatively, if the period you wish to search for is not in the list then enter it as a 'Site Related Keyword' (e.g., Norman, rather than Medieval or Later Bronze Age, rather than Bronze Age).

Advanced Search: Site Code

Search for a site using its unique identifier; typically a combination of three letters taken from the site address, and the final two digits of the year of work: (e.g., LRR94 = 135 Lower Richmond Road, Putney).

If you wish to search for information from more than one site use the Site Related Keyword field instead and separate the site codes using commas (e.g., LRR94, BAQ90).

Advanced Search: Keywords

Search all fields in the database by entering keywords. Separate all keywords using a comma (e.g., 'ditch, bank'), do not use plurals, ensure that you are using the correct Boolean Operator.

Advanced Search: Only Sites with recorded Objects

Check this box to only search for sites which have objects recorded against them in the database. This does not imply that other sites did not produce any finds, only that the database does not store any information about them.

Advanced Search: Boolean Operator between Site and Object Criteria

This operator determines how the system will search when both site and object criteria are entered.

• AND: ensures that only records that match both Site criteria and your Object criteria are returned;
• OR: returns a set of results that match either your Site criteria or your object criteria, or both.

Advanced Search: Find Type

Check the appropriate box to determine which type of finds are searched for.

• Registered Finds: 'Special' finds that have been accessioned into the Museums catalogue.
• Bulk Records: the general finds from a site such as potsherds and bone.
• Both: search Registered and Bulk finds records.

Advanced Search: Find Period

Using the drop-down menu, select the archaeological period you are interested in. Alternatively, if the period you wish to search for is not in the list then enter it as a 'Site Related Keyword' (e.g., Norman, rather than Medieval or Later Bronze Age, rather than Bronze Age).

Advanced Search: Find Name/Term

Search for a find using its standard name or term (e.g., Amphora, coin, vessel). If you are unsure of the correct terminology either check the MDA Thesaurus or enter your term as a keyword. Always use the singular, not plural.

Advanced Search: Object Material

Search for a find using its standard material term (e.g., iron, glass, ceramic). If you are unsure of the correct terminology either check the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus or enter your term as a keyword.

Advanced Search: Site Context of Object

Search using the identifier for a particular object using a combination of site code and context number. Use this option only when performing very precise searches and you already have some knowledge of the site.

Advanced Search: Keywords

Search all fields in the database by entering keywords. Separate all keywords using a comma (e.g., 'ditch, bank'), do not use plurals, ensure that you are using the correct Boolean Operator.

Advanced Search: Display Options for Results

Define how you wish to view the results; a list of sites or finds, and the level of detail required. You can set the number of returns per page, organise this by site, show a brief description, display or exclude finds and group according to category.