With National Science Foundation support the University of Arkansas' Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST) and the Archaeo-Imaging Laboratory (AIL) will provide next-generation 3D measurement, analysis and remote sensing technologies to archaeological research projects around the world. The project will focus on three primary areas of CAST and AIL's established expertise: 1) site-based archaeo-geophysics and mapping, 2) three-dimensional scanning, photogrammetry, visualization, and morphometrics; and 3) aerial and satellite remote sensing, regional survey, and mapping. The growing availability and sophistication of digital technologies, particularly in the geospatial domain, has begun to profoundly affect how archaeologists and other scholars work. The things archaeologists study - from artifacts to sites to landscapes - almost always have a spatial component, and space is viewed as one of the central dimensions of archeological study. The capabilities of geospatial technologies to enhance discovery and interpretation of these features not only offers new data, but creates entirely novel means of engaging with the archaeological record. For example, high-resolution satellite imagery makes it possible to locate and map archaeological features across vast expanses of terrain, enabling investigations to cross modern cultural and political boundaries and explore ancient polities at scales never before possible. Subsurface geophysical investigations allow buried archaeological remains to be documented revealing complete, detailed plans of entire communities offering new insights into community organization and past built environments. Laser scanning and photogrammetric modeling techniques present new ways of recording artifacts and architecture in three dimensions and enable morphometric analysis at multiple scales - from small objects to large sites.
Currently, relatively few individuals or even institutions have the combination of equipment, technical skills, and archaeological acumen needed to integrate geomatics effectively into archeological research. While an obvious approach to overcoming this limitation is to partner multiple individuals with complementary knowledge, it does not guarantee success. There is an extensive record of missed opportunities where a technical specialist partnered with an archeological research project but there was a lack of understanding of the archaeological requirements by the technical specialist and/or a lack of experience with the technology by the archaeologist. Over the past two decades, CAST) and AIL, with earlier support from NSF and others, have steadily invested in the development of capacities (equipment and software, analytical practices, staff, and expertise) in geospatial technologies and their deployment in archaeological research through collaborations between geomatics specialists and archaeologists. Today, CAST and AIL are global leaders in geospatial research across a variety of disciplines and applications, and are widely regarded as among the best places for the application of these technologies in archaeology. The expansion of the application of these methods to the study of the past that will be made possible by this project will have a significant effect on the field. The project will be lead by CAST Director Dr. Jackson Cothren and Co-PIs - Drs. Jesse Casana, Dave Fredrick, Ken Kvamme and Fred Limp.
