In most parts of the world where archaeology is conducted, site repositories--museums which hold the various kinds of information collected by archaeologists. A state-supported site repository is where a list of the all the known archaeological sites in the region covered is maintained. The repository may also include a library of reports written about archaeological sites in the region, a climate controlled storage area for artifacts recovered from them and other information about sites and cultural history.

Today, archaeological site records are more and more commonly stored in computer databases, or at least are in the process of becoming stored there. These databases are frequently tied to GPS data, meaning site searches as part of background research may be done online.

This computer is pointed at the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologists' site records database, called the Iowa Site File. To use the Iowa Site File, the researcher proposing conducting work in a given region may print out a map that shows where the known sites are plotted, and a bibliographic reference listing on reports on those sites and other surveys and excavations conducted in the region.