This research aims to investigate the potential use of three-dimensional (3D) technologies for the analysis and interpretation of heritage sites. This article uses different 3D survey technologies to find the most appropriate methods to document archaeological stratigraphy, based on diverse environmental conditions, light exposures, and varied surfaces. The use of 3D laser scanners and dense stereo matching (DSM) techniques is now well established in archaeology. However, no convincing comparisons between those techniques have been presented. This research fills this gap to provide an accurate data assessment for the Las Cuevas site (Belize) and represents a starting point for the definition of a sharable methodology. Tests in Las Cuevas were conducted to compare both accuracy and density reliability in cave environments using two different techniques: triangulation light laser scanner and DSM. This study finds that DSM is the most economical, portable, and flexible approach for the 3D documentation of archaeological sites today. In fact, DSM allows the 3D documentation process to be done more efficiently, reducing both data acquisition and processing time. Nonetheless, the quantitative comparison presented in this paper underscores the need to integrate this technique with other technologies when the data acquisition of micro-stratigraphy is required.

Since opening its doors in 1998, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center (MPMRC) has had an identity as both a tribal center and a museum committed to challenging the public’s conventional understandings of Native history in New England. Over a 15-year period, museum staff and the tribal community learned to work more collaboratively in an effort to document and illuminate Pequot survivance—the histories of Mashantucket families living and working in and against the modern world. A review of recent museum projects clarifies the benefits of collaboration while revealing how new exhibits and programs are impacting visitor experiences and understandings. Another kind of museum space is envisioned in which visitors, staff, and tribal members actively co-create exhibits and programs centered on Pequot survivance, using content informed by ongoing archaeological studies. In that space, co-creation practices would encourage social interaction—a collaborative pushing-and-pulling of ideas and stories in a shared search for new understandings of survivance at Mashantucket and beyond.

Virtual Reconstruction is a powerful tool broadly suited to a diverse array of archaeological heritage applications. In practice, however, reconstruction has largely focused on grand and monumental sites. Here we present two case studies–one from southern Oklahoma, the other from western Nebraska–to explore the use of this technology for more common heritage applications. The goal of this article is to advertise the dilemma we faced with communicating information on ephemeral sites and how we, as nonspecialists, solved the issue using affordable and accessible digital tools. Our workflow makes use of common tools (GIS) and open source software and online tutorials provide step by step instruction to support its replication. In presenting our experiences and the results of these efforts, we hope to spur similar applications in the use of Virtual Reconstruction to communicate information on archaeological heritage more broadly.

Human skeletal remains hold a wealth of information about past life-ways, but their documentation and recovery from archaeological contexts is challenging. Four challenges face bioarchaeological field work: poor skeletal preservation; complex mortuary traditions; sub-par excavation conditions; and excavation time limits. Poor preservation often prevents the collection of metric data from skeletons. This project tested whether a bioarchaeologist with basic photography skills and excavation equipment could address these challenges using photogrammetry. Photogrammetry was employed at the ancient Maya sites of Say Kah and Chan Chich, both located in northern Belize, to document human skeletal remains and their archaeological contexts. Steps are provided for implementing photogrammetry in the field, as well as addressing challenges for using the technique during burial documentation. This project produced only one adequate 3-D model and no metric data could be collected. Overall, photogrammetry seems to be a promising method for bioarchaeological research because it is low-cost, effective, and fairly straightforward to learn. The technique was faster than traditional line drawing, but sub-par excavation conditions and dark, small spaces hindered the creation of useful models. Photogrammetry provides an excellent alternative to traditional documentation addressing the challenges of poor skeletal preservation and holding potential for unraveling complex mortuary traditions.

Preservation knowledge is important for those preparing archaeological collections for curation or requesting access to collections for research. Literature about the fields of archaeological conservation and curation is plentiful, but there are scant resources that offer a basic introduction to the knowledge needed to facilitate preservation of and access to archaeological collections. Much of the literature focuses on conservation in the field and in the lab. Archaeological curation standards and the importance of sustainable management of archaeological collections also are well documented. In contrast, this article serves as an introductory guide to preventive care, specifically to the agents of deterioration and the storage considerations that affect preservation of and access to archaeological collections. Collections specialists who work in museums, government repositories, or historical societies, as well as field archaeologists, academic archaeologists teaching and conducting research on collections, and descendant communities in tribal historic preservation offices and other repositories will find this guide useful as a reference and teaching resource.

The excavation of the site of Kom W in the Fayum region of Egypt during the 1920s by Caton-Thompson and Gardner resulted in the loss of the original surface topography. Detailed section drawings recorded the surface and bottom of excavation, but it was previously difficult to interpret the published images. This article reports on the use of these images to create a three-dimensional representation of the site as it was before and after excavation in the 1920s. This visualization aids the interpretation of the formation processes that shaped Kom W in ways that were previously unachievable due to limitations in the original data. Archaeological sites are under increasing threat of destruction, especially in the Near East. This method could be applied to legacy data in order to reconstruct a site with the data available.

Even though Southeast Asia is one of the most densely populated regions of the world, its rock art is relatively unknown, and the rock art of Micronesia is even less so. As a starting point for comparing Philippine rock art within the region, a systematic quantitative literature review (SQLR) was conducted to assess the current body of accessible publications. The SQLR resulted in 126 viable references, and characteristics of those references were quantified and analyzed to ascertain the qualities of research published to date. The SQLR results show that scholarship in Southeast Asian rock art is increasing and that the research is dominated by Australia-affiliated scholars. It also quantitatively affirmed that the most noted color for rock art in the region is red and the most commonly identified motif is anthropomorphic. Many motifs found elsewhere in Southeast Asia are notably absent in the known corpus of Philippine rock art. Finally, we discuss SQLR methodology and propose integrating collaborative semantic web applications to increase efficiency and relevance.

Field research requires careful preparation so as to protect the integrity of archaeological studies and ensure the health and wellness of our students and field crews. In this special issue, we hope to lay a foundation for securing health and wellness as elements of the ethical practice of archaeology fieldwork through discussions of common hazards and tools to prevent, prepare for, and address safety incidents in the field. Even as archaeology and other field sciences grapple with serious safety concerns such as sexual harassment and mental health, it can be tempting to view field sites as extensions of the classroom or office. But field research can be a high-risk endeavor where we are exposed to a range of hazards not typically encountered in a traditional learning or work environment. We reach across disciplinary boundaries toward outdoor leadership and backcountry medicine to introduce the concept of wilderness context to describe the remote—and not-so-remote—locations and conditions common to archaeology field research. These are places where small or unanticipated problems can quickly become serious incidents. By rethinking research sites as wilderness activity sites, we highlight how methodical preparation can help us craft more robust and ethical health and safety practices for all members of our teams.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the challenges and opportunities for integrating archaeological information in landscape-scale conservation design while aligning archaeological practice with design and planning focused on cultural resources. Targeting this opportunity begins with statewide archaeological databases. Here, we compare the structure and content of Pennsylvania's and Florida's statewide archaeological databases, identifying opportunities for leveraging these data in landscape conservation design and planning. The research discussed here was part of a broader project, which was working through the lens of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives in order to develop processes for integrating broadly conceived cultural resources with natural resources as part of multistate or regional landscape conservation design efforts. Landscape Conservation Cooperatives offer new ways to think about archaeological information in practice and potentially new ways for archaeology to contribute to design and planning. Statewide archaeological databases, in particular, offer transformative potential for integrating cultural resource priorities in landscape conservation design. Targeted coordination across state boundaries along with the development of accessible derivative databases are two priorities to advance their utility.

Graduate schools provide students opportunities for fieldwork and training in archaeological methods and theory, but they often overlook instruction in field safety and well-being. We suggest that more explicit guidance on how to conduct safe fieldwork will improve the overall success of student-led projects and prepare students to direct safe and successful fieldwork programs as professionals. In this article, we draw on the experiences of current and recent graduate students as well as professors who have overseen graduate fieldwork to outline key considerations in improving field safety and well-being and to offer recommendations for specific training and safety protocols. In devising these considerations and recommendations, we have referenced both domestic and international field projects, as well as those involving community collaboration.

As lidar becomes a regular part of surveying, ground-based platforms (handheld, mobile, and terrestrial lidar) and airborne platforms (piloted aircraft) are being joined by unpiloted aerial vehicle (UAV)–acquired lidar. We present a method for leveraging UAV-acquired lidar data with data collected using different lidar platforms (terrestrial and piloted aircraft), at a range of resolutions (1 to +1,000 points per m2) and geographic scales. We use these instruments to document a dry-masonry stone wall enclosing a religious precinct within the royal center at Kealakekua, Kona District, Hawai'i Island. Prior to European contact in AD 1779, Kealakekua was the center of the island-wide polity during the annual Makahiki festival. Results of this study suggest that when the wall was constructed around AD 1640, it was the largest structure ever built on the island of Hawai'i as well as a strong material expression of the power of state religion and the Makahiki rituals.

The Huron-Wendat have had their ancestors’ villages and burial sites investigated archaeologically for over 170 years. Past and ongoing land disturbance and invasive archaeological excavation have erased dozens of Huron-Wendat village sites in Ontario, hindering Huron-Wendat duty to care for their ancestors. Consequently, over the last 20 years, in addition to large-scale repatriation of ancestral remains, the Huron-Wendat have requested that archaeologists make every effort to avoid any further excavation of ancestral sites. This poses a new challenge for archaeologists about how to learn about the Huron-Wendat past with minimal disturbance to ancestral sites. Honoring the cultural responsibilities of the Huron-Wendat, the authors have employed minimally invasive remote sensing methods of investigation on Ahatsistari, a forested early seventeenth-century Huron-Wendat village site in Simcoe County, Ontario. Remote sensing methods (e.g., magnetic susceptibility survey, high-resolution soil chemistry sampling, and metal detector survey) have revealed village limits and the possible location and orientation of longhouses, providing essential information in support of the Huron-Wendat imperative to find, assess, and preserve as many of their archaeological sites as possible. This is to protect the ancestors, learn from the ancestors, and preserve ancestral sites and related landscapes for future generations.

Stone alignments, including tipi rings and drive lines, are abundant on the northern Plains and adjacent Rocky Mountains, but they have been notoriously difficult to date. This paper applies luminescence dating to sediments directly underneath the rocks to estimate the age of placement of the rock. This is based on the assumption that before the rock was emplaced, turbation processes brought sufficient grains to the surface, where sunlight reset the signal. Single-grain dating of potassium feldspars allowed isolation of these original well-bleached grains, which by now have built up a signal because the rock prevents transfer to the surface. Plotting the number of original well-bleached grains with depth showed that these grains were concentrated just under the rock and decreased with depth. This is what would be predicted if the assumption is true. Dates were derived from several samples from Kutoyis in north central Montana, from Whitewater in eastern Montana, and from several sites in northwestern Wyoming. Many samples from Kutoyis and Wyoming dated to the last 600 years, but some samples from both places were more than 2,000 years old. The Whitewater features also dated to around 2,000 years ago. The ages are consistent with the cultural history of the areas.

Microartifact analysis, the study of the density and distribution of tiny (yet visible) fragments of ceramics, bone, worked stone, and other microartifacts, offers a promising solution to the challenges of determining the location and nature of activity areas at archaeological sites. In spite of the fact that microartifact analysis has been successfully applied at sites in North America and the Middle East, archaeologists have yet to recognize the utility of this methodology in most of the rest of the world. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to test whether this methodology can be profitably applied in the southern Andes. To do so, we describe the results of microartifact sampling, processing, and analytical techniques that we applied to two phases of occupation at the site of Tumilaca la Chimba in southern Peru. The results of the research outlined in this article suggest that microartifact analysis is an effective analytical technique that can contribute greatly to archaeological praxis.

In this article, we present a unique case study in Indianapolis, Indiana, where cultural resource management (CRM) archaeologists, alongside various university archaeologists, tested the use of SfM photogrammetry to effectively replace traditional archaeological methods of mapping and documentation during the excavation of over 500 historic burials. This project was designed with the intention of using SfM photogrammetry for 3D mapping and documentation from its inception, implementing formal procedures and protocols for data collection creating a standard workflow. To our knowledge, this is the first integrated use of SfM at this scale on an archaeological project in Indiana. By the close of fieldwork, over 300 burials had been digitally recorded, and measurable 3D models were generated. We found that the standard photogrammetry workflow implemented for single context excavation was largely successful. First, we outline the data collection process for 3D mapping of single-context excavations at Bethel Cemetery. This is followed by a description of the problems encountered during data collection and the ways the photogrammetry team adapted to variability in field environments for photocapture. Finally, we recommend the adoption of these methods by practitioners/academics as standard practice in the archaeological excavation of human remains.

MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) is one of the leading archaeological companies in the UK. It provides professional archaeological services and implements award-winning community engagement programs with a high-profile online presence. Its Facebook page is an important communication channel, serving the organization in raising public awareness, reaching the widest audiences, and engaging with the community. MOLA has developed a strategic approach to its archaeological communication on Facebook by ensuring regular updates of its research and by providing rich archaeological content aligned with media campaigns of the most notable archaeological excavations. This strategy helps the organization build a steady and engaged community of interest. The use of social networks for public engagement, the possibilities of rapid dissemination, and the challenges of ensuring sustainable online participation via social networks resonate with major concerns discussed by different researchers in the field. This review explores MOLA's Facebook page, seeking to showcase how the archaeological organization communicates through Facebook on a day-to-day basis and to reveal how Facebook users react to different kinds of archaeological content through measurable metrics.

For the first time in North American archaeology, absorbed residue analysis was conducted on multiple samples from the same vessel, a complete Mississippi Plain jar from Angel Mounds (12Vg1). This approach provided comprehensive, residue-based interpretations of the form and function of a single pot. The Mississippi Plain jar was recovered from a burnt house floor along with the broken remains of a similar vessel and burnt maize. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of absorbed lipid residues were performed on four different parts of this vessel to determine its contents and function. Comparison of absorbed residues from the pot and soil lipids was used to determine whether the pot was buried with contents intact. The results indicate that this vessel was used to cook a mixture of riverine (lean fish or shellfish) and plant resources, probably including maize. Diterpenoid biomarkers were also present, suggesting that conifer resin was used either to seal the pot or as a flavoring. The jar, though deposited whole, was probably not buried with contents intact.

The value of new archaeological knowledge is strongly determined by how credible it is, and a key measure of scientific credibility is how replicable new results are. However, few archaeologists learn the skills necessary to conduct replication as part of their training. This means there is a gap between the ideals of archaeological science and the skills we teach future researchers. Here we argue for replications as a core type of class assignment in archaeology courses to close this gap and establish a culture of replication and reproducibility. We review replication assignments in other fields and describe how to implement a replication assignment suitable for many types of archaeology programs. We describe our experience with replication in an upper-level undergraduate class on stone artifact analysis. Replication assignments can help archaeology programs give students the skills that enable transparent and reproducible research.

Simon (2010:187) notes that the purpose of co-creative community projects is “to give voice and be responsive to the needs and interests of local community members; to provide a place for community engagement and dialogue; and to help participants develop skills that will support their own individual and community goals.” This paper explores the role that co-creation currently plays in digital public archaeology and discusses how co-creative methods can inform broader archaeological digital engagement efforts. It begins by placing co-creation in its proper context in order to demonstrate its unique characteristics, its value, and how it complicates approaches used in other types of archaeological engagement projects, such as Open Access initiatives. The discussion then turns to evaluating its impact and the broader need to measure success in digital public engagement projects. A discussion of research from the archaeology and the cultural heritage sectors provides examples of evaluation metrics and methods for assessing digital public archaeology projects. The paper concludes by suggesting that all digital engagement projects can benefit from incorporating some of the principles that are inherently part of co-creative methods but that not all archaeological digital engagement projects should strive to be completely co-creative.

This paper outlines several outreach initiatives that the Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológico Regional Ancash (PIARA) established to address the challenges of heritage preservation at the prehistoric archaeological site and rural community of Hualcayán, located in rural highland Ancash, Peru. We discuss three projects—a heritage festival, a textile enterprise, and an oral history project—that were designed and executed through a collaboration between PIARA and the Hualcayán community. We find that these “co-creative” projects encourage local stakeholders to discover and define for themselves the value of both their ancient and modern heritage. Reflecting on the outcomes from these projects, we discuss the co-creative approach as an effective strategy for improving the preservation of archaeological remains and enhancing the livelihood of the modern community.