Documents from Oaxaca, Mexico, in archives and museums in Mexico, the United States, and former European colonial powers are stimulating archaeological projects and other research in the areas where they originated. The Teozacoalco Archaeological Project was inspired by colonial-period documents housed in the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Library at the University of Texas at Austin. Chiyo Cahnu, a Mixtec kingdom better known as Teozacoalco, was the scene of Aztec and Spanish colonial incursions. The archiving in Texas of the famous Mapa de Teozacoalco and associated documents pertaining to the kingdom/municipality, as well as other documents related to Teozacoalco, neighboring Mixtec kingdoms, and other indigenous Oaxacan communities housed in libraries, archives, and museums distant from those communities, invites us to consider some important issues: how and why they left their original homes and arrived in their present locations and legal and ethical ramifications of housing them outside of their homeland. Included in the latter topic are questions about decolonizing documents, whether documents should be repatriated, and best practices for archaeologists whose projects are inspired by them.

In this article, the ways in which hobby metal detectorists searching for protected objects in the ploughsoil and archaeologists in Norway have collaborated and communicated throughout the public history of metal detecting in the country is outlined and problematized. Due to the opinions of individual archaeologists working in key positions and the autonomy of the country's local and regional management institutions, there are huge variations in both attitudes and practices toward metal detecting and its practitioners. In some areas, metal detectorists are allowed to search more or less freely, whereas in others, entire fields are protected after a few finds, making continued detecting without formal approval from the authorities illegal. Because of this, and the extreme difference in the activity level of individual detectorists, the number of recorded detecting finds varies immensely across county and regional borders. I suggest that channels for collaboration and communication be formalized and that a national and therefore uniform public reporting system be realized—given that it is, for the time being, largely up to individual archaeologists whether some of the country's most active citizen scientists are equally treated by the archaeological heritage management system in Norway.

Participating in an archaeological field school is one of the only educational experiences that nearly all professional archaeologists have during their training. As a result, field schools are uniquely suited to provide experiential education in emerging skills that all archaeologists will need, such as information and data literacies at all stages of the contemporary research and publishing cycle. The “embedded” librarian program in the University of New Brunswick's Downeast Maine Coastal Archaeology Field School is an effective means to deploy that focused expertise to help students better understand the relationship between fieldwork, data, and dissemination. At the same time, being in the field provides librarians with the knowledge to respond more effectively to the complex data management and research needs of archaeologists. We encourage large research projects to consider librarians as specialist members of the research team.

Archaeological compliance is defined by state and federal legislation and the constrained, precise language in which it is written. Rules and policies operationalize the law but provide some flexibility in its interpretation and implementation. The pronounced use of “legal” and “scientific” language in archaeological compliance can be considered insensitive or offensive to some tribal members when discussing the disposition and care of the remains and belongings of their ancestors. The language we use constructs our reality and defines how we interpret our interactions of the lived experience. It is therefore necessary to revise the language employed in archaeological compliance to ensure that it reflects the values of the communities that these laws define to determine treatment and ultimate disposition of their ancestral remains and belongings. This article describes and encourages the use of a respectful terminology, developed in conjunction with compliance professionals and tribal representatives, to restructure the language we use and redefine our interactions as more considerate of tribal concerns for repatriation.

With the advent of commercially available digital cameras in the late 1990s resulting in the near-exclusion of analog photographic prints today, most archaeological repositories around the world have a mix of analog and digital photographic prints. That ratio is increasingly moving toward digital print processes, of which there are several types. To minimize the loss of image quality, collection managers must become familiar with the unique curation challenges of photographic prints from digitally created images. Likewise, creators of digital content must be aware that choices made when selecting a print process for reposit will have a direct effect on image and print permanence. Site photographs are critical evidence of archaeological activity, and so the preservation of digital prints is in the interest, and is the responsibility, of collection managers and archaeologists alike.

Advanced 2-D and 3-D computer visualizations are increasingly being used for recording and documentation, analysis, dissemination, and public engagement purposes. Recent technological advances not only considerably improve data acquisition, processing, and analysis but also enable easy and efficient online presentation. This article evaluates the contributions of advanced 2-D and 3-D computer visualization and discusses the potential of 3-D modeling for recording basketry technology and documenting the state of preservation of baskets. It explores the available analysis, integration, and online dissemination tools, using as case studies recently excavated baskets from Cache Cave in southern California. Results indicate that the proposed methodology, which incorporates reflectance transformation imaging visualizations and photogrammetric 3-D models, which are further processed using 3-D modeling software and integrated analysis tools and then transformed to a Web-based format, is a useful addition to the basketry analysis toolkit.

Any field team, regardless of the professionalism of the leadership, will eventually experience a critical event. Some events will result in a subtle degradation of the team's work; others will cause emergent threats to the safety of the team. A team's sustained performance during a field season depends partly on such chance events and partly with the team's ability to plan for and respond to the dynamic environment of the field. The duty of a field leader is to conduct clear-eyed conversations and ensure that solid preparations are laid for both the group as a whole and the individual team members. Some of these plans need to be manifested by material preparations, some of which require months of forethought. This article walks readers through a two-hour exercise, giving them frameworks from business continuity and military field doctrines to understand risk. Readers will conduct a SWOT analysis, define emergencies within their organizations, and then apply risk management practices of qualitative risk assessment and all-hazards planning to develop planning priorities. By the end, readers will have built specific action plans for improving field season readiness.

In 2003, the Autry Museum of the American West merged with the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, which housed the second largest collection of Native American objects in the country. Included within this collection is the Braun Research Library Collection, which consists of works of art on paper, rare books, scholarly publications, manuscripts, photographs, correspondences, maps and sound recordings, and other archival materials, many of which relate to the early development of the disciplines of archaeology and anthropology in the United States. For over a century, both national and international researchers have used the museum's collections and archival materials with a relative open access. However, due to the culturally sensitive nature of many of these collections and the growth of how information can be made accessible, the Autry institution is currently developing procedures that affect access, especially for those researchers who wish to study archaeological archives. Staff from multiple departments are collaborating on addressing these concerns, including developing new policies while improving access to Native American tribes, communities, and researchers in preparation for the new off-site Autry Resources Center and storage facility where the collection will be housed in the future.

Most archaeological practice involves horizontal excavations of ancient occupations and cemeteries, but the Chachapoya of Peru's eastern montane built tombs along narrow cliff ledges, which require innovative methods of investigation. Many of these sites are becoming exposed and threatened due to increased deforestation. The La Petaca mortuary complex includes 125 constructed platforms, modified ledges, mausoleums, and caves containing human remains across one section of an exposed rock face approximately 200 m across by approximately 80 m high. While the site has been looted and damaged due to various taphonomic processes (including ecological, geological, and cultural), we argue that there are recoverable details, especially in relation to how the ancient Chachapoya people created and accessed these vertical spaces. Through collaboration with technical professionals, we identified and documented many tombs using vertical progression techniques. This valuable partnership between spelunkers and archaeologists allowed us to develop techniques for “vertical archaeology,” including safe access in order to be able to document, sample, and make detailed observations of building methods and burial contents.

Moving image archives—like many other archives—are considered a passive repository of knowledge extraction, rather than an active site of knowledge production. Following the premise that archives are indeed a source of knowledge production, this article explores how moving image archives have the potential to produce new and alternative knowledges by bringing to light factors that may have influenced archaeological practice, factors captured within a moving image archive but obscured or marginalized within linear accounts of this practice. While such an archive may exist unevenly, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) has been historically positioned to develop a moving image archive that features a number of well-known archaeological investigations. Yet this archive and similar moving image archives remain overlooked and underutilized resources. In order to address this, emphasis is placed on producing detailed, searchable, and retrievable content description for moving image archives. In doing so, this article maintains that the knowledge and experience brought to the management of this archive following the author's transition “from archaeologist to archivist,” is key to promoting the discoverability and accessibility of this archive with potential clients in the archaeological, academic, and broader community.

At Tell Yunatsite, a prehistoric settlement mound located in the Upper Thracian plain of Bulgaria, stratigraphic relationships between archaeological deposits are incredibly complex. Such complexity then prompted our exploration into developing a new methodology for the documentation of complex stratigraphic relationships. Here, we present the results of a new photogrammetry-assisted methodology that was developed to compensate for the shortcomings of currently utilized stratigraphic documentation methods, such as the Wheeler-Kenyon box grid and the Harris Matrix. First, using a UAV drone, we produce a high-resolution photogrammetric model of the entire site. Second, with structure from motion photogrammetry, we produce 2.5D models of excavation units in stratigraphic succession. Finally, utilizing GIS and Blender (a 3D computer graphics software application), we digitize the horizontal extents of each archaeological deposit and “fill” the space between their successive surfaces (from top to bottom) until a faithful 3D model of each deposit is generated. These deposit models are then combined and rendered simultaneously to form 3D block models of the excavation units that may, in turn, be cross-sectioned in any direction to view stratigraphic relationships in virtual profile.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are undertaking a long-term, multiphase project to improve and rebuild Interstate 95 (I-95) in Pennsylvania, within the historic city of Philadelphia. Given the complex urban setting, the archaeological subsurface testing for the I-95 Girard Avenue Interchange Improvement Project is being guided by a programmatic agreement under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. Through data-recovery excavations, the contractor for the project, AECOM, has documented 30 historical-period and Native American archaeological sites. The project includes its own professional journal, live interactive reporting, and a public archaeology center.

Digital imaging technologies have enhanced archaeological research and profoundly expanded the scale of the discipline’s potentialities. As illustrators and archaeologists move away from using hand-drawn images (of hand-held, real-life objects) to depict artifacts and other archaeological information, certain capabilities of the traditional illustrative process are lost. One such loss is the ability to present a complete and informed representation of an artifact free of the distortions and visual limitations that single-perspective (i.e., digital or photographic) imagery produces. This is accomplished by the illustrator through the unification of multiple views of the artifact from various perspectives into a single two-dimensional image that communicates to the viewer important attributes of the artifact, free of distortion and remaining true to the measured, analytical conventions of the illustrative process. Liberation from the single-viewpoint perspective was one of the fundamental elements of the Cubist movement. Traditional archaeological illustrators utilize Cubist principles to communicate visually to the viewer a complete, accurate, and undistorted package of information about an artifact. The supplanting of hand-drawn illustrations by digital images in today’s archaeological publications threatens to revert the visual representation of data back to uninformed, surficial “snapshots” of incomplete objects.

The Hacienda El Progreso functioned as an important Ecuadorian agro-industrial enterprise in the late nineteenth century. Operating out of San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos archipelago, the plantation exported refined sugar, coffee, cattle products, and other goods to national and international markets. From its beginnings in the 1860s, the plantation established the first permanent human settlement on the island, and long after its demise in the 1930s, it continues to exert an important influence in local culture. Contemporary communities of San Cristóbal are shaping their identities based on the historical importance of the hacienda. The summer of 2018 was our last field season. From its start, the Historical Ecology of the Galápagos Islands project involved close participation with communal authorities and town leaders to investigate the island's human past. In this article, we discuss legacy and services of our project in the contemporary setting of Galápagos. We examine the relevance and contributions of our project to education, heritage policies, and the local economy. We discuss lessons learned from interactions and collaborations between archaeologists and the local community, and we evaluate the consequences of implementing an archaeological project on a remote environmental sanctuary where interest in human history can collide with the agendas of nature conservation and a lucrative ecotourism industry.

The Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands (PAN) is an online system aimed at recording and documenting archaeological finds by the public. Since PAN launched in 2016, it has become an important data contributor to Dutch archaeology, amassing over 100,000 recorded finds. These data, mostly the result of metal detection, enable scholars to gain new insights and policy makers to make more informed decisions. This review describes the context in which PAN was established, along with its current structure and scope, before looking at its different components, including the underlying database and linked data reference collection. In a final section, the article briefly addresses some common issues inherent to public reporting programs and how PAN approaches these issues.

Care of archaeological materials should begin when recovered in the field. Care and stabilization of objects in the field will greatly increase their research and exhibit potential. Identifying problems and understanding basic solutions to object care and stabilization is an important part of training for all potential object handlers. Proper care and stabilization of objects can and should be a priority for all object users—excavators, lab analysts, museum staff, and researchers. Constant dialogue and communication between repository specialists and archaeologists can be the most useful source for care of all archaeological objects.

Overall healing, harmony, and balance within Ndee (Apache) communities can be understood through the Ndee term Gózhó—“beauty, balance, and harmony.” Beyond this Ndee cultural precept, however, how are such states of Gózhó achieved, whether in the past or today? Within archaeological research on Ndee lands, achieving healing and promoting health is crucial to overall individual and community well-being. Healing activities that contribute to overall states of Gózhó can take many forms. As Rybak and Decker-Fitts (2009:334) suggest, “Native American healing practices exemplify key cultural perspectives and influence the identity development of Native American individuals.” Such healing practices including the use of yellow cattail pollen (hádńdín; Typha spp.) for protection are based on traditions and perspectives typically outside the mainstream of Western psychological tenets, yet they can have significant impact on the sense of well-being for Ndee communities. Ndee cultural specialists with the White Mountain Apache Tribe demonstrate that such traditions and perspectives are not only necessary for continued community well-being but are powerful conduits amplifying the past as present, which contribute to the ongoing cyclical and reciprocal nature of the ways Ndee communities have related to Nígosdzán—Mother Earth—since time immemorial.

Although we, as archaeologists, recognize the value in teaching nonprofessionals about our discipline and the knowledge it generates about the human condition, there are few of these specialists compared to the number of archaeologists practicing today. In this introductory article to the special section titled “Touching the Past to Learn the Past,” we suggest that, because of our unique training as anthropologists and archaeologists, each of us has the potential to contribute to public archaeology education. By remembering our archaeological theory, such as social memory, we can use the artifacts we engage with on a daily basis to bridge the disconnect between what the public hopes to gain from our interactions and what we want to teach them. In this article, we outline our perspective and present an overview of the other three articles in this section that apply this approach in their educational endeavors.

Managing collections means ensuring that the data about them are useful, available, and accurate. In addition to the technical aspects of data management, there are layers of political and social structure that direct the construction and use of collections data. The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) employs a set of data standards that allows us to gather electronic cataloging data from a wide community of archaeology researchers who are depositing collections at our institution. Though met with initial resistance, these standards have facilitated publication in Open Context as linked open data. Furthermore, institutional discussions concerning Creative Commons licensing and the cultural sensitivity of collections data were precipitated by publication, highlighting the role of social agreement in data management. We found that successful employment of data standards must take into account the needs of the various stakeholders and further their interests. Standards will be most useful and successful when they are lightweight, are supported by training and documentation, and exist as part of a system that allows for more than one way to characterize the collections.

In the 54 years since passage of the National Historic Preservation Act, more than 56 million ha of land have been surveyed in the United States, and nearly one million cultural resources have been identified and recorded. These efforts have produced hundreds of thousands of project reports, vast collections of data, and a wealth of descriptive information about the past. The accumulated data can be used to generate important new knowledge about the past, with many scientific and management implications, but remain largely untapped. Following current approaches, many resources will be damaged or lost before effective strategies for studying or preserving them can be developed. Synthesis and modeling are needed in creative mitigation efforts to identify which resources to preserve and study and how best to do so with limited time and funding. This article explores the potential for compiling and synthesizing large cultural and environmental datasets within a geographic information system to model the nature and distribution of cultural resources. It is argued that dedicated synthesis and modeling of cultural resource management data will allow development of more effective and proactive research and management strategies, providing lasting benefit to diverse scientific and traditional communities and the public.