Archaeological monitoring report software
When ground disturbance happens near a known or potential archaeological resource, a monitoring archaeologist watches the excavation and records what is exposed: each context, its depth, its relationship to the ones around it, and whether anything triggers a stop-work under the permit or approval conditions. The client wants proof the conditions were met; the heritage authority wants the record. SurveyThanks gives each context its own row, so the daily monitoring log and the final report are built from the same stratigraphic record.
Built for heritage consultants running teams of roughly 3–50 inspectors.
Sample Site monitoring report
An illustrative excerpt. The site, readings and findings are fictional; the layout is yours to set.
Site monitoring report
Monitoring log — Trench T2, service upgrade (day 3)
- Site
- Fictional Wharf Precinct, former stores
- Approval
- Excavation permit, monitoring condition 4 (fictional)
- Machine
- 5 t excavator, 600 mm batter bucket
| Context | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
| T2-001 | Asphalt and road base, 0–0.35 m | Status: Modern |
| T2-002 | Mixed fill with 20th c. ceramics, 0.35–0.9 m | Status: Recorded |
| T2-003 | Sandstock brick footing, two courses, aligned N–S | Status: Stop work |
| T2-004 | Natural sandy clay below footing, 1.1 m | Status: Sterile |
Fields captured on site
Your firm builds the form in-app, so these are a starting point rather than a fixed schema. Every field is captured on the device, with or without signal, and lands in the site monitoring report where your template puts it.
Per context
- Context number
- Type (fill, cut, structure, natural)
- Depth from and to
- Description and inclusions
- Relationship to other contexts
- Photographs and scale
Finds
- Linked context
- Material
- Count
- Retained or discarded
- Bag number
Each monitoring day
- Works observed
- Hours on site
- Stop-work events and notification time
- Location on site plan (map pin)
Standards the report works to
- Heritage Act 1977 (NSW)Protection of relics and archaeological permits in New South Wales
- The usual source of monitoring conditions on NSW projects; other states’ Heritage Acts set their own.
- Burra Charter (2013)The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance
- Frames the significance assessment of anything exposed and the decision to retain it in place.
Load the standards you hold into your reference library and the drafted prose is written against them rather than against a general model.
How the site monitoring report gets built
Capture it once, offline
Your firm builds the archaeological site monitoring form in-app — 25 field types, nesting repeatable groups, compound AND/OR visibility rules, reusable modules and calculated fields. Field capture works with no signal: jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio all queue in an idempotent outbox that only clears once the server confirms receipt.
Link it to your fabric elements and spaces
Enter fabric elements and spaces once, as a register. Every one of your condition observations across inspection rounds then points at a stored row rather than a name somebody typed — and the links survive a disconnected device.
Render your own template
The site monitoring report renders into the Word template you already use — your letterhead, your section order, your clause library — with conditionals, loops over repeats, composable sub-templates and photo grids.
Reviewed before it leaves
You write the review framework: a checklist of what a site monitoring report must contain, plus the prose standards you would mark a junior against. Link it to a report template and it runs every time that template renders. Each finding comes back graded info, minor or major, quoting the sentence at fault, and a person accepts or dismisses every one.
Because the structured submission behind the report is held too, the review is a comparison rather than a proofread: The narrative says the verandah is stable; the condition record grades it poor and deteriorating.
Checks a heritage framework usually carries
- Every element in the schedule carries a condition grade and a photograph
- Change since the last inspection is stated element by element
- Recommendations are tied back to Burra Charter principles
- The significance assessment is consistent with the conservation management plan
Questions
- Can finds be linked to the context they came from?
- Yes. Contexts are a register and each find points at one, so the finds catalogue and the context descriptions in the report cannot disagree about where something was recovered.
- Can several days of monitoring roll up into one report?
- Each day can be its own job or its own repeat within one job. The final report template loops over every day and every context, so the summary is assembled rather than rewritten.
- Can I dictate context descriptions while watching the machine?
- Voice notes are recorded on the device, even offline, and transcribed later. Proposed field values are shown with the quote they came from, and nothing is filled until you accept it.
What this is not
Worth knowing before you book a demo, so neither of us wastes the half hour.
- Not field-service dispatch. No timesheets, no parts, no inventory. Scheduling exists to get an inspector to a site.
- No signature capture. If your deliverable has to carry a signed sign-off on the artefact itself, this is not the tool yet.
- Field capture is what works offline — jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio. Reports, chat, scheduling and the inbox need a connection.
- No client portal. Reports go out as a file or a password-protected link.
Other heritage work we cover
- Ghost sign documentationSign documentation report
- Heritage building condition surveysConservation condition report
- Historic cemetery surveysGrave condition survey
- Indigenous heritage surveysCultural heritage report
- Museum object condition reportsObject condition report
- Rock art condition monitoringRock art condition report
- Shipwreck site inspectionsWreck site report
- Statue and monument auditsMonument condition register
Other disciplines
Rebuild your site monitoring report in SurveyThanks
Bring the Word template you already send clients. If you are coming off another field-forms tool, a filled report can be uploaded, read field by field, and re-rendered into your template.