The ADS carries out research, most of which focuses on resource discovery, cross-searching and interoperability with other relevant archives in the UK, Europe and the United States of America.

As a result, the ADS was established at the University of York Department of Archaeology in September 1996 with two full-time members of staff and under the directorship of Professor Julian D.

[8] The ADS holds the digital outputs of numerous archaeological excavations or other research activities including some very well known sites such as Stonehenge and Sutton Hoo.

Much of the archive material can be grouped together under 'programme' headings such as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) which involved over 100 different archaeological interventions.

The website hosts a series of Guides to Good Practice (G2GP) on the following archaeological topics: All these G2GP were revised in 2012 funded in part by English Heritage and the US based Digital Antiquity project.

The main search mechanism for the ADS catalogue, ArchSearch, contains aggregated resource discovery metadata for the national monument inventories of England, Scotland and Wales (hosted by English Heritage, the RCAHMS and the RCAHMW) as well as numerous Historic Environment Records HERs.