Northern Ireland

OASIS (Northern Ireland) builds upon the original OASIS project undertaken in England by the Archaeology Data Service, University of York and has been developed in conjunction with the Historic Environment Division (Department for Communities).

The OASIS data capture form has been designed to assist the reporting of information from developer-funded archaeological fieldwork by data producers, such as contracting units, to the Historic Environment Division's Excavation Licensing Team, as part of the Division's statutory obligation to regulate archaeological excavation under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. Data captured in the form can be used by the National Monuments and Buildings Record for Northern Ireland for the purpose of curation of archaeological data. The data capture form provides the opportunity to upload digital copies of both completed project archive reports (grey literature) as well as files defining the geographical extents of projects.

Open access to information gathered through OASIS is encouraged through online resources, principally, the ADS ArchSearch catalogue and through the Historic Environment Division's Historic Environment Map Viewer.

Licensing and regulation

Please note, under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, a licence is required to search for archaeological objects or to carry out an archaeological excavation in Northern Ireland. All archaeological excavations must be carried out under the direction of a qualified archaeologist, licensed by the Department for Communities. A licence application must be submitted for every excavation, by the archaeologist who will direct the work, at least four weeks before the date on which work is due to begin. It is also an offence to be in possession of a detecting device on a protected site (Scheduled or State Care monuments) or to remove an archaeological object from a protected site without written consent from the Department for Communities.

If you would like further information about the project please see the help pages. For technical advice, please contact the ADS Technical Team.