Segers-Glocke, Christiane [Hrsg.]; Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege [Hrsg.]; Institut für Denkmalpflege [Hrsg.]; Balck, Friedrich [Bearb.]: Arbeitshefte zur Denkmalpflege in Niedersachsen: Aspects of mining and smelting in the Upper Harz Mountains (up to the 13th/14th century) - in the early times of a developing European culture and economy (St. Katharinen: Scripta Mercaturae Verl., Heft 22.2000)

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Descriptors of location, relation to the prevailing direction of the wind,
recognisable deformations of the terrain, type and height of the vegetation cover
and general state of preservation are used among others. Slags found at the site
are also described.
The outlines of slagheaps are traced using metal detectors where there is
evidence for slagheaps whose dimensions are obscured by dense vegetation.
d. Sampling
Sites are generally sampled with two cuts, which are dug where possible down
to the base of the slagheap. The samples taken from these should form a
representative cross section of the material and one should try to resist the temp-
tation of taking nice pieces. In addition, an effort is made to recover samples of
charcoal. To avoid contamination with material from younger charcoal
production such samples are preferably taken from the base of the heap.
Pieces that are apparent at or near the surface such as ceramic, ore or metal
products, fragments of the furnace wall etc are collected separately and appro-
priately entered into a sketch of the site.
Additional soil samples are taken where organic materials have been pre-
served particularly around smelters situated in wet areas. In such cases the
sampling depends on the layering of the site and may take the form of alternately
simple soil samples, block (Fig. 10) or columnar samples to allow optimal
investigation. All samples are stored under moist and sterile conditions.
e. Work-up of a prospection - broader implications
The information gathered in the field is entered into the database of finds
where each site is allocated an individual identification number. Apart from the
necessary global coordinates of the site and additional information relative to
communal and/or forestry boundaries all individual information is also entered
(cf. above: b. Prospection) into the database. The use of a fixed format of data
fields allows a comprehensive querying of the data. In addition to this rigid
framework for data entry, there is also room for individual descriptions, which
allows for the recording of personal impressions. In our experience, this has
proven to be of particular advantage for the analysis of less schematised
manuscripts of local historians.
Relationships can be defined which allow the querying of other databases
such as those of pictures, finds, and analyses from the site database (Klappauf,
Linke, Cramer 1993, 32 sqq.).