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IDs, Tags, and Slugs

Each item recorded in an excavation usually has a unique tag. These tags are typically a combination of strings and numbers agreed upon at the onset of a dig as part of the registration system. For example, loci tags may include season, area, and locus number.

The software utilizes three different representations to identify records:

  • Tag: a string corresponding to the excavation's field registration tag or name assigned to an item.
  • ID: a unique identifier used by the database (primary key).
  • Slug: a unique string used to identify an item as part of a url (avoiding reserved characters, white spaces, etc.)

For example, in the Jezreel Expedition, a locus record is identified by:

  • Tag: 16/S/56 (Season: 2016, Area: S, Locus number: 56)
  • Slug: 16.S.56
  • ID: 6S056

The software supports two types of ids: human readable strings or surrogates (autoincrements).

Functions to convert between the different representations are a required part of each module's configuration files.