On Friday, hundreds of archaeologists participated in "A Day of Archaeology", an annual event in which archaeologists engaged in a truly wide range of archaeological activities from around the world write about their daily work. Follow the links to read about our day or check in with former DA intern Russell who contributed to the project here.
From ASU News, 7/16/2013
Mimbres pottery is one of the most treasured prehistoric ceramic traditions of North America. Named for the valley in southwestern New Mexico where its creators flourished around a thousand years ago, the striking black-on-white vessels are highly prized on the art market.
The bowls, which usually bear human or animal figures, are spread over the world in various museums and private collections, making it impossible for researchers – or simply interested individuals – to easily access the bulk of this work.
Until now.
Earlier this year, the Mimbres Pottery Images Digital Database (MimPIDD) debuted as part of the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR).
Read more at https://asunews.asu.edu/
Come visit Leigh Anne Ellison at the Arizona Historic Preservation Conference, in Mesa, Arizona later this week. She will be on hand at The Center for Digital Antiquity/tDAR booth in the exhibitor’s hall on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Please stop by to learn more about what is new at tDAR, ask questions, or just say hi!
On Friday afternoon (3:10-4:00 PM, Fiesta Room), Keith Kintigh will moderate a panel session describing the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office’s (PXAO) approach to curating the results of their public projects with tDAR. Reclamation archaeologists and Digital Antiquity staff are making digital information and resources from Reclamation’s decades of archaeological studies for the Central Arizona Project widely available to researchers in Arizona and beyond.
These efforts have led the PXAO to upload the results of current investigations to tDAR for accessibility and long-term preservation. Panelists include Leigh Anne Ellison (The Center for Digital Antiquity), Jon Czaplicki (Bureau of Reclamation PXAO), Adam Ricks (Bureau of Reclamation PXAO), Robert Stokes (Archaeological Consulting Services, Inc.), Glen Rice (Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University School of Human Evolution and Social Change), and Arleyn Simon (Director of the Archaeological Research Institute at Arizona State University) will consider the following developments and issues:
Each panelist will speak for a few minutes and the balance of the time will be utilized for discussion and questions. We hope you can attend!
Later on Friday afternoon (4:10-5:00 PM, Fiesta Room), Josh Watts, a former Digital Antiquity Data Curator will speak on a panel diwscussing the use of technological platforms in cultural resource management and its increased importance to archaeological consultants, architectural historians, land managers, and scholars in recent years. As technological capabilities have increased and the need for expedited transmission of digital data has become necessary, agencies, consultants, and the academic community have developed sophisticated methods for resource recordation, analysis, and management that were unavailable or impossible just a few years ago. This technological advancement is not without problems, however. Historians and archaeologists are increasingly encountering challenges with standardization and accessibility of data, software and hardware compatibility, digital standards, security, and other potential setbacks. This panel features three archaeologists who are currently confronting these problems through technological innovation including tDAR.
SAA and Digital Antiquity are pleased to announce a collaborative program to focus increased attention on the curation of digital data from archaeological projects. As part of a four year, non-exclusive cooperative agreement SAA will provide material support to Digital Antiquity and its digital repository, the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) of $5k/annum, and work with Digital Antiquity to encourage all archaeologists and organizations that conduct or require archaeological investigations to deposit well-documented digital records in tDAR or other digital repositories that ensure long term preservation and appropriate access. SAA and Digital Antiquity share a commitment to the long-term preservation of digital records and to making these collections. In order to encourage students to properly curate the digital records they produce, Digital Antiquity will provide every SAA student member free uploads of 3 files with up to 30MB of data per year for the next four years. This valuable student-member benefit allows all student members records broadly discoverable and accessible, with appropriate safeguards for sensitive information.
SAA and Digital Antiquity both seek to develop in students a strong ethic of stewardship, including responsible curation of both physical and digital of SAA to practice responsible preservation.
The Center for Digital Antiquity (Digital Antiquity; http://www.digitalantiquity.org/) is a multi-institutional organization established to ensure the long-term preservation and effective access to and use of archaeological information. Digital Antiquity developed, maintains, and operates tDAR (the Digital Archaeological Record; http://tdar.org), an international repository of the digital records related to archaeological investigations and resources. tDAR provides online discovery and access as well as long-term preservation for tens of thousands of archaeological documents, data sets, and images. Digital Antiquity is currently housed at Arizona State University and is governed by an independent Board of Directors and supported by an external Professional Advisory Panel.
The Society for American Archaeology (SAA; http://www.saa.org/) is an international organization dedicated to the research, interpretation, and protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. With more than 7,000 members, the SAA represents professional, student, and avocational archaeologists working in a variety of settings including government agencies, colleges and universities, museums and the private sector. The SAA’s Principles of Archaeological Ethics has specifically established the preservation and curation of objects and records, both non-digital and digital, as an ethical obligation of all archaeologists and works hard to uphold that obligation among its members.
Beyond this partnership, both Digital Antiquity and SAA welcome opportunities to work with other organizations to advance these important goals of fostering and improving digital data curation in archaeology.
A copy of the joint statement can be viewed here.
A new report concludes that current archaeological, historic preservation, and records management laws and regulations require that digital archaeological data generated by federal agencies must be deposited in an appropriate digital repository. Such repositories will provide long-term preservation and accessibility of digital files to qualified users. Importantly, the laws and regulations cited in the report require the protection of digital archaeological records from destruction or deterioration, including from technological obsolescence.
The report was prepared by Cultural Heritage Partners (CHP), a Washington, D.C.-based law and government affairs firm with experience in cultural resource management and cultural heritage issues. CHP cites relevant requirements in the National Historic Preservation Act, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, the regulations regarding curation of archaeological collections and associated records promulgated pursuant to those statutes (36 C.F.R. 79), and the regulations promulgated by the National Archives and Records Administration (36 C.F.R. 1220.1-1220.20) that apply to all federal agencies.
These legal findings highlight the need for services like the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR), an online repository managed by The Center for Digital Antiquity where digital archaeological data are properly accessible, stored, preserved and protected as legally mandated. The full report can be downloaded here.
Arizona State University retained CHP to conduct the analysis.
The Center for Digital Antiquity and ADS are proud to announce the print publication of Caring for Digital Data in Archaeology: A Guide to Good Practice. This new volume is the culmination of three years of work to update the Guides to Good Practice to cover a wider range of archaeological data and to refresh the content with up-to-date information. Based on the web version of the Guides to Good Practice, Caring for Digital Data in Archaeology provides an overview of the challenges to digital archiving and practical guidance for more common materials. The print version is intended to be used in concert with the online site which will be maintained with up-to-date information and provide more depth of content.
Caring for Digital Data in Archaeology is separated into three primary sections:
Copies can be pre-ordered online at: http://www.oxbowbooks.com/dbbc/caring-for-digital-data-in-archaeology.html
We are pleased to announce that the Mimbres Pottery Images Digital Database is now available in tDAR. The deposit of these digital files in tDAR was made possible with funding provided by the Mimbres Foundation.
The database contains a collection of over 9,000 images of Mimbres ceramic vessels, among the most spectacular and renowned prehistoric pottery in North America. The Mimbres archaeological culture is particularly noted for its stunning black-on-white style bowls, which were often decorated with naturalistic designs. The collection’s digital images document the painted designs on each vessel, along with associated descriptive information about the archaeological context, temporal style, and vessel form and size. You can browse the public Mimbres vessel collection here:http://core.tdar.org/project/
Numerous collections of Mimbres pottery vessels exist, scattered across many countries and dozens of museum and private collections. The dispersed nature of these collections makes it difficult to undertake comprehensive studies of Mimbres ceramics. The image collection and database brings together visual and descriptive information from many of these collections, allowing easy access to a wealth of data. Created by Harvard Peabody Museum Curator Steven LeBlanc and Arizona State University Professor Michelle Hegmon, the extensive database contains images and data from more than 70 collections and over 80 archaeological sites.
We have wonderful things planned for tDAR in 2013, from an updated look and feel to the tDAR application, to a number of exciting new software features. But, as we start out 2013, it’s interesting to take a look at how tDAR has changed and evolved in 2012. 2012 was a big year for tDAR and Digital Antiquity and we’re grateful to you for being part of it. 2012 included Digital Antiquity receiving a second grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the Center’s operation and development by expanding the content of tDAR, enlarging the community of users, and continuing to develop and enhance tDAR’s software. We received an important endorsement from the American Anthropological Association. We were also awarded a CLIR fellowship to fund a postdoctoral candidate in association with ASU Libraries.
The tDAR software underwent two major updates this year: Grid and Harris. Combined, these updates significantly enhanced the search and discovery functionality for tDAR, and have improved the interface for data integration and data entry. The repository also underwent considerable growth. Our contributors have added over 5,000 new documents, data sets, images, and other resource types for a total number of records now exceeding 373,000.
The repository is now over 180GB is in size, and has literally doubled in size over the course of the last year.
While we do not maintain detailed statistics on users or use to protect user and contributor privacy, we can share some interesting aggregate data. Below are the most frequently viewed and downloaded resources.
These are the most popular people, places, sites, and other keyword data used to describe tDAR records in the last year.
Add your files to tDAR today, and look for them on our most popular list of 2013. We wish you a prosperous and healthful new year!
You’ve probably been warned by popular media that tomorrow brings the “Maya Apocalypse,” a prophesied end-of-days. Indeed, the 21st of December, 2012, marks the end of an important cycle in the Maya Long Count Calendar—but there is no evidence suggesting pre-Hispanic Maya predicted any doom-and-gloom to befall us on this day. In fact, there is only one known text that makes mention of this date! We know the Maya world was ordered by their many intricate calendar systems, of which the long count calendar was just one. tDAR holds a large number of interesting documents and projects providing in-depth coverage on numerous aspects of Maya life.
Do you have archaeological information you’d like to contribute to tDAR? Now is a great time as we will continue to offer free uploads to tDAR through the end of the year. Once in tDAR your files are preserved for the long term so users today and well into the future can access and make use of them. At Digital Antiquity we regularly and systematically check the files in the tDAR repository to ensure that no deterioration has occurred. If file deterioration is detected, take steps to remedy it. We periodically migrate and/or refresh the digital files to provide for their long-term accessibility and preservation. Your files are maintained in open and preferable formats, and associated with rich descriptive metadata that make them meaningful. What are you waiting for?
The opportunity to upload resources for free to tDAR will end on December 31st. Can you catch up with some of our super-users? Barbara Stark has uploaded nearly 4,000 archaeological records related to her research in Veracruz, Mexico. PaleoResearch Institute has contributed over 2,000 paleoenvironmental and archaeobotanic reports. More than 2,000 files chronicling Dean Snow’s investigations of Paleoindian to Historic archaeology of New York have been made available in tDAR. William Engelbrecht’s research on Iroquoian Ceramics and the Eaton Site includes over 1,000 reports, journal articles, datasets, photos, and maps. Check out the extensive archaeological data shared by these and hundreds of other archaeologists in tDAR, then add your own! Once in tDAR, your archaeological files will be preserved and made accessible in perpetuity. At tDAR we:
To explore tDAR and upload your files, visit www.tdar.org and register as a tDAR user. Registration is a simple procedure that requires that you create a password for log-ins and that you agree not to misuse any of the information you obtain from records and documents/data in tDAR.
Once you are registered you can create a tDAR record and upload your digital archaeological files along with meaningful metadata by filling in a user-friendly tDAR record form. This is a great opportunity to digitally archive your personal archaeological files for FREE! Of course, searching tDAR’s extensive archives is always free. We encourage you to contact us at comments@tdar.org with any questions or comments.