Archeology & Collections

Back in Blog 2, “Turning the Wheel…,” I was tracing the strange but true link between methamphetamines and antiquities theft. Turns out I’m not the only person with this on their mind.

NCPTT’s David W. Morgan and Jason Church presented preliminary results of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of copper at the joint Louisiana Archaeological Society and Mississippi Archaeological Association meeting held from February 27-March 1, 2009 in Natchez, Miss.

Recent research reveals bacteria may be the biggest ally in the fight to preserve ancient artifacts from erosion and deterioration.

Katrina, 9-11, and “other challenges mean the preservation of our historic resources…requires innovative and proactive approaches during the coming decades” (Preserve America p5). That, I think, is where our remote archaeological site surveillance event comes into its own, especially when you consider how clearly antiquities trade, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism are becoming linked.

In 2006 the White House launched Preserve America. Parallel to this, on a much tinier scale, was an event on the use of surveillance equipment for remote archaeological site surveillance. In its own humble fashion this little cog actually helps turn the enormous Preserve America wheel.

Texas Tech University and CyArk have produced a webinar to train Vanishing Treasures personnel in the use of High Definition tools in archeology.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center.

The grant allowed for documentation of traditional language, foods, music and the cultural landscapes associated with the Timbisha Shoshone people in their aboriginal territories.

The Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) will hold its annual conference entitled “The Ties That Divide: Trade, Conflict & Borders” from January 6-11, 2009 in Toronto, ON, Canada.

NCPTT staff recently presented the results of initial research on the applicability of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to copper artifact elemental composition studies at the 56th annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

New methods could speed archeological documentation time by 60 percent

NCPTT held its third annual workshop on archeological prospection Sept. 16-20, 2008 at the historic Presidio in San Francisco.

A Summary of Results from the 2006 and 2007 Field Seasons
Bryan S. Haley
Center for Archaeological Research
University of Mississippi
Introduction
As part of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) Prospection in Depth Workshop, the University of Mississippi Center for Archaeological Research conducted a geophysical survey of the Whittington (16NA241) and Ailhaud St. Anne Site (16NA529) [...]

Annually NCPTT hosts “Prospection in Depth,” an integrated, holistic professional development workshop fusing GIS, GPS, and geophysical prospection.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

The resulting images constitute a database for three-dimensional modeling and analysis, museum exhibits, video production, and broadcast journalism.

Prehistoric Hopewellian peoples of Ohio (ca. 150 B.C. – A.D. 400) produced fine geometric and representational art that played central roles in their social organization and religious practices.

This report discusses the feasibility and processes necessary to utilize photogrammetric techniques and photogrammetric software in order to be able to gather metric data from softcopy three-dimensional images.

This manual is meant to help the operator through the measurement of watercraft using the Sokkia total station. The vessels to be measured can vary in size from small boats to full sized ships.