The study of material culture, be it of individual finds or assemblages or specific material categories, forms the core of archaeological and archaeological heritage management. The analysis of the remains of the material component is crucial to the understanding of what happened in the past. By combining this knowledge and the knowledge of similar finds found sometime earlier and elsewhere a continuous accumulation of knowledge takes place.
At present this accumulation of archaeological knowledge is threatened.
We have to look for new ways of knowledge management. The construction of a National Reference Collection could be a means to this end. This would entail a web site with information on typologies, literature and specialists, together with a reference to the physical examples somewhere in a regional archive.
We will discuss what the threats are, in The Netherlands, and what kind of solution we are thinking of. Since neither artefacts, knowledge or solutions are restricted to modern geographical frontiers the next step would be to consider co-operation on a European scale. You are invited also to the workshop to join us in thinking about if and how we can benefit from Europe-wide networking.
Key words European, Web site, Referencing, Collections, Knowledge