Is any of your previous Excel data relevant to your current project? There may be a way(s) to link/import/restructure that existing Excel-based data into a more useful database design.
You may find
this thread/dialog a useful reference for developing a new database.
I have done a little review of your post #14.
You are probably already aware of these links that seem related to your project:
1
Guidelines to the Standards for Recording Human Remains
2
Towards an Online Database for Archaeological Landscapes
For others reading this: a few definitions/descriptions via Google
*grave,--a place of burial for a dead body, typically a hole dug in the ground and marked by a stone or mound
*pit,--a hollow or indentation in the surface
*ditch,--a narrow channel dug in the ground
*cist, --an ancient coffin or burial chamber made from stone or a hollowed tree.
*barrow --a large mound of earth or stones over the remains of the dead
osteological (*--medical knowledge concerning the bones of the skeletal system.)
*--aDNA Ancient DNA is DNA isolated from ancient specimens.
*--A depositional environment is a specific type of place in which sediments are deposited, such as a stream channel, a lake, or the bottom of the deep ocean
Another approach to design is to create some mock data based on your initial thoughts of questions to be asked of the data and based on your previous Excel-based study and/or other studies you are familiar with. Then adjust your model/ initial tables as your "discovery process" progresses. This exercise may help you refine/expand scope and/or subject matter.
I had not encountered the word
cist before; I did know about
cyst.
Interesting project.