Inrap, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research is a public research institution created in 2002 that ensures the detection and study of the archaeological heritage affected by development and infrastructural works in France and its overseas territories. With more than 1,700 archaeologists working in 50 research centres all over France, Inrap undertakes about 1,800 evaluations and 200 excavations annually. For each operation, a fieldwork report is produced and validated by State services. This massive amount of documentation, with both scientific and administrative content, is recorded in the Inrap DOLIA digital catalogue.
More than 38,000 fieldwork reports from Inrap have been published in the new ARIADNE Portal providing a major contribution to archaeological knowledge of the French territory. The reports are written in French and cover all periods and all types of contexts and sites: from prehistory to the contemporary period, from the rural to urban context. From the ARIADNE Portal, it is possible to access a description of each report and its permanent link to the DOLIA catalogue. Each report is described by a summary and a complete chronological, geographical and thematic indexation with the French thesaurus Pactols which allow cross-searching on Inrap data in the ARIADNE portal. Some of the reports are fully accessible online via DOLIA – Google translate can be used for displaying the page in native languages. A couple of examples are:
Excavation report of a preventive operation at Fontenay-sur-Loing (North of France)