UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS ARCHEOLOGIST CREATES REMOTE SENSING LIBRARY

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Throw away the shovels and trowels. Information about archeological sites soon will be just a mouse click away.

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training - an office of the National Park Service - recently awarded a sizeable grant to UA archeologist Dr. Ken Kvamme and the University’s Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies.

This grant funds the development and implementation of a database that will act as the first repository in North America for archeological images and information gathered through the use of subsurface remote sensing technologies - geophysical methods that include magnetometry, electrical resistivity and ground-penetrating radar.

"Remote sensing technologies are more widely used in Europe than they are here, so a number of countries - Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Great Britain - already have websites and databases that feature these methods," said Kvamme. "It’s important that America develop a similar resource to inform people about these techniques."

NCPTT has granted $33,904 for the first year of work, with another $5,815 donated by the University of Arkansas. Additional grants from NCPTT may fund the final two years of the project depending on the progress made in this initial stage.

The final product - the North American Database and Website of Archeological Geophysics - will contain more than a dozen components, serving numerous functions both for professional archeologists and for the general public.

These components include: a complete library of remote sensing images; a database of archeological projects using this technology; bibliographical information on abstracts, publications and technical reports; descriptions of remote sensing instrumentation with information on retail and cost; links to other archaeogeophysical websites; a database of practitioners and consultants; and a calendar of conferences, workshops and projects open to the public.

Images and information will feed into the database from a variety of researchers and sources. Kvamme hopes the website will provide a venue for archeologists to advertise their projects and share their discoveries.

In addition, the website will perform an educational function - providing information and materials for a broad audience from professional archeologists and college students to elementary school children.

"There are only a handful of archeologists using this technology in the United States," said Kvamme. "We want to make information about these techniques available to a wide audience so that we can educate them, capture their interest and possibly convince more people to use it."

Though groups such as the U.S. military, the FBI, the petroleum industry and marine scientists have been using remote sensing technologies for decades, these tools have only recently been applied to the field of archeology. As researchers explore the potential of this technology, they are finding increasing advantages to using it before excavation.

In Great Britain and northern Europe, remote sensing imagery comprises the first stage of any archeological project. It maps specific features of the buried site, lowers the cost of excavation and prevents damage to valuable artifacts and structures.

"Throughout the country, archeological evidence is being destroyed because people don’t realize it’s there," said Kvamme. "It’s increasingly important that we have a tool to identify and protect these sites before they’re exposed by a road crew or submerged by a reservoir."

Kvamme believes that the University of Arkansas is uniquely equipped to begin that educational process not only because of his own expertise in remote sensing techniques but also because of the technological resources available through the UA Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies.

CAST will provide specialized expertise to support the website-database link. In addition, the center has supplied state-of-the-art software and equipment, capable of supporting hundreds of concurrent visitors to the website.

"When you host a national database, you have to expect thousands of hits per day," Kvamme said. "You need fast machines to accommodate all those people and security capabilities to ensure the data cannot be tampered with. Through CAST, we’ve been equipped with both of those necessities."

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