In the field of archaeology, Open Research Data and Open Science are significant factors in the scientific-research infrastructure and can be used for conducting various scientific studies for the purpose of gaining new knowledge and benefits. Metadata schemas are important for publishing, searching and accessing open research data. In Croatia, open research data in the field of archaeology and related metadata schemas is an unexplored area. The goal of this thesis was to investigate and identify important metadata elements in the field of archaeology in the context of open science, to develop a concrete application profile and to determine its usefulness for a wider range of users. Within the theoretical part, basic concepts are explored and defined. Furthermore, the process and the range of the development of openness, data life cycles, data sharing and reuse have been analyzed and synthesized. The digital environment in the field of archaeology is presented, and its factors are described. Significant metadata schemas and 220 associated entities have been identified. The important factors of search, recognition and uniqueness in digital environment are formulated. The review of scientific research led to determining the important metadata elements. With the help of experts in archaeology, their importance was evaluated using the Delphi method and the metrics for consensus. The application profile is created, and it is based on the defined functional requirements, domain modeling as well as on the identification of entities, their relationship and the related metadata elements. The persistent identifier for the application profile was determined considering the elements of comparison and the analysis of their fulfilment. The testing of the application profile and the research databases was conducted by using the comparison of elements and attributes. The users’ perception of the application profile was explored in two groups of users (undergraduate and graduate students). In this part of the research, digital competencies of the users were important, and they were defined by linking the functional requirements of the application profile with the digital competencies of the methodological framework DigComp. Furthermore, the users’ perception of the application profile was explored through the identification of important elements for search and reuse, the assessment of importance of the existing elements of the application profile and the choice of metadata elements within real situations for doing generic tasks. The research, which was conducted for the field of archaeology in the context of openness and open research data, determined 16 important entities with 283 elements. For the purpose of describing, searching, and reusing digital objects by experts in the aforementioned field, the consensus was reached with 30 elements. The application profile was designed with 31 elements and described by the XML schema and document. The visibility and unigueness of archaeological entity through the application profile is based on a unique identifier. The analysis shows that the permanent identifier DOI is most suitable. The existing databases contain some elements of the application profile; however, they are insufficient for completely reaching a decision concerning their use in new research. Digital competencies of user groups that participated in the research are lower than the level defined for their grade of education. There is a difference in the type of digital competencies they possess, and the elements of the application profile are connected with generic tasks of finding and identification.