Not a product looking for a market. An answer to a question the field asked first.
In 2020, a national research project surveyed professionals across 14 cantonal services, 3 universities, and several private organizations on what archaeology actually needed from digital tools.
The answer was consistent: resources stretched thin, no shared standards, data locked in scattered databases, publications out of reach, untapped analytical potential. One diagnosis and one wish: shared infrastructure, built with practitioners.
Archaeologists weren't asking for another piece of software. They were asking for a shared, durable digital infrastructure.
ArcheoBase emerged from the DigiArch 2021 conference.
AnalyticBase: Swiss software engineering, built for fieldwork.
Two founders, complementary expertise: software engineering (EPFL background, large European databases, sensitive financial and citizen-science platforms) combined with two decades in criminal intelligence analysis and applied AI.
National survey of 14 cantonal services and 3 universities
DigiArch conference: shared vision crystallizes
First prototype tested with field teams
Active deployment across Switzerland
International deployment, following feedback from the CAA conference in Athens
Meet the founders
Dr. Emmanuel Clivaz
Co-Founder & CEO.
Two decades in criminal analysis and intelligence, including heading an analytical unit at the Swiss Federal Police (fedpol). PhD, University of St Andrews. Data scientist and AI developer; lecturer in analysis and research methodology at master's level; Vice-President of CAA Switzerland (Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology).
Jean-Philippe Clivaz
Co-Founder & Head of Computer Engineering.
Over two decades in software development: a Europe-wide citizen-science web platform used by more than 300,000 people, and sensitive financial data systems in impact investing and microfinance. Master's degree in Computer Science, EPFL.
Our team is ready to assist you, every step of the way.
From your custom development requests to the calibration of the platform, through to final publication, every project is supported by people who understand both software and archaeology.
Our beliefs shape every
design decision.
Collaboration
Archaeological knowledge belongs to the discipline, not to silos. We believe sharing should be as easy as protecting: every institution works in its own workspace, and shared spaces bring joint projects together, the moment partners choose to.
Preservation
Every excavation destroys the context it documents. That makes the record a permanent obligation, so we engineer for decades, and for the day the data must outlive any platform, including ours.
Equity
Professional tools belong to everyone who does the work. Pricing deliberately adapted to each country and region, and set low enough from day one that a student, a doctoral researcher, or an independent archaeologist can afford the same professional tool as a well-funded institution.
Context
In archaeology, data separated from its context loses its meaning: an unlinked record is a half-lost record. Everything we build preserves the links the trench created: every photo, geometry, and find, tied to its context, always.
Planning for
the long term?
Book a demo to see ArcheoBase today and talk through the
roadmap and timelines.
Free calibration to your methodology.
Free field test. No commitment.
