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In London several recording sheets are used to aid a systematic data entry. The most common, the Context Recording Sheet, provides all information of the Deposit (layer and fill) and Cut. Special, coloured sheets help to sort contexts such as Masonry (in situ), Worked Stone (ex situ), Timber, Skeleton and Coffin (MoL Site Manual 1994). The field staff also records Environmental Samples, whereas specialists record the Accessioned Finds. The prompt fields of the record sheets minimise descriptive variation and the Excavation Manual suggests sets of categories and terms, in preparation for electronic data sets.
The written record is translated off-site during preparation for analysis into a limited number of codes. Coded descriptive lists provide an overview of the composition of contexts. Such lists can be compiled on Excel or other spreadsheets and are easily sorted or filtered for specific information. While the following codes of the general database are given in CAPITAL LETTERS, the additional descriptive context codes for Excel lists are given in normal letters (see the following tables). The process is described in detail in the following pages and you will find an example of how to apply the coding in 'Fictive Excavation' (Appendix 1.3).