Introducing the Index of Care: A web-based application supporting archaeological research into health-related care

•The Index of Care is a tool designed to support bioarchaeology of care research.•It is a freely available, web-based application in active early stage development.•We describe Index aims, structure and content, and give an example of its use.•We invite researcher feedback to improve instrument utility and usability.•The Index of Care is available at www.indexofcare.org.

The Index of Care is a web-based application designed to support the recently proposed four-stage ‘bioarchaeology of care’ methodology for identifying and interpreting health-related care provision in prehistory. The Index offers a framework for guiding researchers in ‘thinking through’ the steps of a bioarchaeology of care analysis; it continuously prompts consideration of biological and archaeological evidence relevant to care provision; it operationalises key concepts such as ‘disability’ and ‘care’; and it encourages transparency in the reasoning underlying conclusions, facilitating review. This paper describes the aims, structure and content of the Index, and provides an example of its use. The Index of Care is freely available on-line; it is currently in active development, and feedback is sought to improve its utility and usability. This is the first time in bioarchaeology that an instrument for examining behaviour as complex as caregiving has been proposed.