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.

This article presents a case study detailing the difficulties and results of collaborating at a privately owned cave site. For many years, Spirit Eye Cave—a privately held cave system—was a pay-to-dig site, with detrimental effects on the archaeological deposits. The pay-to-dig chapter had impacted this important site, but professional archaeologists had not tried to piece together this destructive history. After months of sleuthing, it was determined that some of these pay-to-dig patrons had recovered and owned or sold Indigenous ancestors from the cave. This discovery was unexpected and shocking, but it focused the efforts at the site on the recovery of these ancestors from private collections. These conversations have been uncomfortable but have demarcated responsible and responsive stewards (RRSs) from bad actors, resulting in the recovery of multiple artifact collections and ancestors that have produced significant research results and opened previously nonexistent dialogues with modern descendant communities.

As archaeology has evolved, partnerships between private collectors and archaeologists have ebbed and flowed. This article contributes to a growing body of work dedicated to recognizing the contributions of the collecting community, with a focus on maintaining reciprocal models for long-term collaborations. This research article argues that for these collaborative efforts to progress, archaeologists must operate through an archaeological ethnographic lens that fosters work in partnership and generative dialogues. Utilizing ethics from the Society for American Archaeology's “Statement on Responsible and Responsive Stewards of the Past” (Society for American Archaeology 2018), an undergraduate student and private collector partnered to retroactively document an artifact collection collected over 60 years in Colorado's San Luis Valley. This article is distinct, however, in that it centers the research methods, offering a pragmatic example of utilizing an archaeological ethnographic framework alongside collaborative inquiry and oral history methodologies. The partnership cultivated within the research team opened a new line of inquiry into the collector's past collaborations with professionals, revealing a variety of informative and illuminating stories. As the academic discourse widens, incorporating such stories into the canon will improve collaborations and foster networks of partners to create sustainable long-term collaborations that ultimately lead to greater understanding of and care for the material past.

In the push to provide further interaction with museum and heritage exhibitions, the internet has become an established venue, offering nearly unlimited space and options for providing extensions to in-person content. These internet-based supplements in many cases outlast the physical displays they are meant to accompany. After the exhibitions have closed and the museums have moved on, the digital content remains, a static placeholder for a particular viewpoint on heritage, curation, and public outreach. Such is the case with the Interface Experience, the Web extension to the exhibition of the same name, which ran for a few months in 2015 (Bard Graduate Center [BGC] 2014a). This site, which remains largely functional, is now disconnected from the exhibition it was meant to accompany, leaving it to stand alone as a study on the connections between digital outputs and materiality.

Archaeological resource protection remains an important management concern on public lands in the U.S. Southwest and beyond. While legislation and educational programs have contributed to a general improvement in public attitudes toward cultural heritage, archaeological resources on public lands remain vulnerable to a variety of human impacts. We present results of a condition and damage assessment of 96 prominent precontact sites on the Tonto National Forest (TNF) in central Arizona. We summarize field methods and observations and discuss their implications for the management and protection of archaeological resources on the TNF and other public lands. Sites at varying distances from roads were assessed in an effort to identify potential relationships between damage frequency and road proximity. Field results indicate that (1) unauthorized damage occurs more frequently at sites near TNF roads; and (2) economical measures like advisory signage provide potentially effective means of deterring unauthorized damage to sites in higher risk locations. Our findings add to a knowledge base important for understanding patterns of damage and site vulnerability and for developing practical protection strategies in line with public land missions and administrative capabilities.

This article considers the relevance of the Society for American Archaeology's 2018 “Statement on Collaboration with Responsible and Responsive Stewards of the Past” for imported antiquities (specifically, “classical” ones—that is, from Mediterranean regions). Various practical, legal, and ethical differences between collecting imported versus domestic objects make it difficult to identify “responsive and responsible stewards” of the former. An obstacle to responsible stewardship of privately owned classical collections—and to collaboration between classical archaeologists and collectors—is the 2008 acquisition guidelines issued by the two leading professional organizations in the museum field. I argue that the best home for unprovenienced and poorly provenienced antiquities collections is in university museums, where their complicated object biographies can be fully researched, taught, and displayed.

Conducting archaeological fieldwork increasingly relies on “high-tech” instruments. These include such technologies as portable X-ray diffraction; ground penetrating radar; high-precision global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers; laser scanners; multispectral, thermal, lidar, and hyperspectral instruments on Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs); and many others. Using these devices internationally can present complex issues with export regulations and the potential for duties and value-added taxes. In short, there are many regulations affecting the movement of these devices across international borders. In the past, archaeologists had interactions with customs personnel and faced the complexities of import and export laws at the end of a project, as they dealt with the issues of taking samples or artifacts out of a country for study. Today's archaeologists must be prepared before they even begin their travel to ensure that their equipment and software can travel overseas. This article provides a practical overview of the laws, regulations, and practices affecting international transport of the archaeological high-tech tool kit.

Although the legal conditions are perceived as restrictive, metal detecting has become a popular activity in the Czech Republic. In 2017, a questionnaire survey revealed that a significant segment of this community is made up of passionate people interested in history and archaeology. The majority of professional archaeologists consider metal-detecting finds to be important and believe that cooperation with metal detectorists is necessary, beneficial, and acceptable. A collaborative project called “Joint Forces in Order to Discover the Common Archaeological Heritage of the South Moravian Region” aims to create conditions for citizen science among the metal detectorists in the region. By using tools such as expert workshops for the employees of professional institutions, meetings, educational workshops and field activities with interested members of the public, and production and distribution of printed and digital information materials, the partners in the program have long endeavored to improve the mutual understanding of all relevant actors of society and administration. The creation of circles of citizen collaborators is in progress in several archaeological institutions; nevertheless, this process is far from over. In 2020, with the creation of the Portal of Amateur Collaborators, this activity acquired a unified digital scheme for the registration of finds.

As an escape from the day-to-day drudgery of our “real” world, video games allow us to leave reality and explore new fictional worlds. These worlds are more enjoyable when they are developed from various digital materials and presented as an official story, which is called “lore.” Lore invites the player to submerge into background stories of fictional worlds, including but not limited to those in video games. Video-game lore often provides historical narratives of these worlds, sometimes even drawing on archaeological themes in the creation of characters and places. The video game League of Legends (LoL), developed by Riot Games, has its own detailed lore, often revolving around individual characters. Riot has developed this lore not only through the video game itself but through accompanying media. Although the lore is separate from the game and not necessarily needed, the advantage is that it can orient individuals to the world and the background stories of the characters and players. Additionally, it allows people who are not interested in playing the game to interact with the fictional world, given that the stories are captivating on their own. Here, we briefly discuss Riot's interactive lore website and focus on the background of two places within the LoL fictional world: Ionia and Targon. We examine the presentation of these places through an archaeological framework. Then, we evaluate how archaeology is portrayed throughout the lore, focusing specifically on archaeological field notes and the methods that we are told are employed by one of the characters. In our analysis of the portrayal of Targon, the discussion centers on how archaeological perspectives are an integral framework for the LoL lore. Lore creates a sense of place (a connection between a person and a spatial setting) for the fan community, players, and even developers. Consequently, it is useful to focus on this idea of storytelling through lore, taking a critical view of its power and how it can impact various audiences.

This article introduces datplot, an R package designed to prepare chronological data for visualization, focusing on the treatment of objects dated to overlapping periods of time. Datplot is suitable for all disciplines in which scientists long for a synoptic method that enables the visualization of the chronology of a collection of heterogeneously dated objects. It is especially helpful for visualizing trends in object assemblages over long periods of time—for example, the development of pottery styles—and it can also assist in the dating of stratigraphy. As both authors come from the field of classical archaeology, the examples and case study demonstrating the functionality of the package analyze classical materials. In particular, we focus on presenting an assemblage of epigraphic evidence from Bithynia (northwestern Turkey), with a microregional focal point in the territory of Nicaea (modern Iznik). In the article, we present the internal methodology of datplot and the process of preparing a dataset of categorically and numerically dated objects. We demonstrate visualizing the data prepared by datplot using kernel density estimation and compare the outcome with more established methods such as histograms and line graphs.

In the desert of southeastern California, the geological and archaeological remnants of a once massive lake, Lake Cahuilla, are still visible. One of the most distinctive features marking Lake Cahuilla's relic shorelines is a series of rock fish trap features that, in some cases, stretch across thousands of square meters. These fish traps are severely understudied, and systematic archaeological survey can help scientists reconstruct the dynamic human-environmental history of the region. The large number of fish traps along with the rocky desert terrain, however, make traditional pedestrian archaeological surveys both difficult and inefficient. We used unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology along with traditional archaeological methods to conduct surveys and identify patterning in the shapes, orientations, and frequencies of fish traps. Our study demonstrates the potential of emerging archaeological field technology to better understand the nature of human-environmental ecodynamics through time and space.

In small developing countries like Belize, lack of funding for archaeological research and post excavation curation remains one of our greatest challenges to preserving our tangible cultural heritage. The state of curation of human remains and artefact collections at St. John's College in Belize City is a perfect example of what can go wrong in the absence of a properly funded and managed curation program both at the national and the institutional level. This article highlights the rediscovery of a historically significant group of over 70 human remains in the biological collection of Friar Deickman, which had been forgotten in an attic after his death in 2003. We outline the process of, and accomplishments in improving the curation conditions of these individuals while uncovering their importance to Belizean history in the eighteenth through twentieth centuries. Preliminary analysis reveals life histories of slavery and indentured servitude of individuals of African, Maya, European, and possible mixed African and European descent. We emphasize the importance of ethical responsibility in properly curating excavated human remains, and the challenges researchers face when poor curation results in lost provenience. We offer suggestions for scientific analysis in recovering information lost as a result of poor excavation or curation methods.

Are you an avid fan of Instagramed excavation finds, or YouTube clips of archaeologists? Ever visited an archaeologically-themed virtual museum? Or have you taken a tour of a historic site with a mobile app as your guide? Have you searched for the best Minecraft games deployed in the name of heritage? Or are you regularly on the lookout for blogs to keep you up-to-date on new archaeological thinking?

Beginning with our next issue, Advances in Archaeological Practice (AAP) will become the first major archaeological journal in the English-speaking world to to regularly review the highs and lows, the practicalities, personal experiences and audience impacts of the full range of digital media applied to our discipline. Moving beyond standard book or exhibition reviews, here we will explore any (and all) current digital initiatives produced to engage both general and specialist audiences. Our concern is to push on the boundaries of the review format, turning it into a space where the increasing array of digital outputs being developed and marketed in archaeology are compared and subjected to critical reflection.

Despite considerable developments in the archaeological application of lidar for detecting roads, less attention has been given to studying road morphology using lidar. As a result, archaeologists are well equipped to locate but not thoroughly study roads via lidar data. Here, a method that visualizes and statistically compares road profiles using elevation values extracted from lidar-derived digital elevation models is presented and illustrated through a case study on Chaco roads, located in the US Southwest. This method is used to establish the common form of ground-truthed Chaco roads and to measure how frequently this form is across non-ground-truthed roads. This method is an addition to the growing suite of tools for documenting and comparing roads using remotely sensed data, and it can be particularly useful in threatened landscapes where ground truthing is becoming less possible.

Despite making great strides over the past 50 years, cultural resources data management and synthesis continues to be elusive and nonstandardized, with each state and agency developing disparate systems that do not easily mesh. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has embarked on a national initiative by creating a National Cultural Resources Data Standard (NCRDS) that works to address many long-standing data organization issues. The NCRDS allows for the application of more rigorous data management principles that facilitate landscape-level planning and data modeling on BLM-administered lands across the western United States. The NCRDS and associated National Cultural Resources Information Management System (NCRIMS) contains normalized data from 11 western State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) and BLM data stores. NCRIMS is a web-based application hosted by the BLM's National Operations Center (NOC) Enterprise Geographic Information System (EGIS). NCRIMS allows for high-level planning during local, regional, and multistate project analyses and undertakings, facilitating consideration of cultural heritage values early in the planning process versus late stages as has been traditional. This allows the BLM to more proactively, effectively, and efficiently answer data calls and inform agency decision-makers on possible impacts to cultural heritage resources by proposed or ongoing agency actions.

The last 20 years mark a period of transformation from a traditional model of displaying archaeology to a more immersive model supported by digital and virtual media. The traditional model has generally used glass cases accompanied by extensive texts to inform visitors, whereas the immersive model employs digital media, tablets, virtual reality, and augmented reality to attract and engage a wide audience. In light of the recent enthusiasm for the latter, however, one must ask whether such immersive exhibitions are merely superficial means to make public institutions more attractive without having a meaningful impact on audience engagement. Polish archaeological museums provide interesting sites through which to explore this predicament. Here, digital upgrades are generously financed by national funds, so the traditional model of the archaeological museum in Poland is currently almost absent. In this short review, I aim to discuss one of the most interesting examples of temporary digital archaeological exhibitions organized between 2014 and 2019 in the Polish capital of Warsaw. I investigate its potential to engage audiences, ultimately concluding that it managed to create an interesting counterweight to traditional displays and respond to the drawbacks of new digital exhibitions through novel aesthetics and alternative archaeological storytelling.

Most archaeological investigations in the United States and other countries must comply with preservation laws, especially if they are on government property or supported by government funding. Academic and cultural resource management (CRM) studies have explored various social, temporal, and environmental contexts and produce an ever-increasing volume of archaeological data. More and more data are born digital, and many legacy data are digitized. There is a building effort to synthesize and integrate data at a massive scale and create new data standards and management systems. Taxpayer dollars often fund archaeological studies that are intended, in spirit, to promote historic preservation and provide public benefits. However, the resulting data are difficult to access and interoperationalize, and they are rarely collected and managed with their long-term security, accessibility, and ethical reuse in mind. Momentum is building toward open data and open science as well as Indigenous data sovereignty and governance. The field of archaeology is reaching a critical point where consideration of diverse constituencies, concerns, and requirements is needed to plan data collection and management approaches moving forward. This theme issue focuses on challenges and opportunities in archaeological data collection and management in academic and CRM contexts.

Previous literature dealing with designing samples of points on a grid focuses on finding all the targets in a sample area, as would be the case when shovel-testing to discover features or sites within an impact zone. That goal will be achieved most efficiently using offset-square or hexagonal grid patterns. However, if the goal is to estimate the number of features based on a probability sample, the optimum design is actually a square grid with a grid interval greater than the target diameter. This surprising but welcome result is due to the interaction of several nonlinear relationships between the grid interval, the target size, the number of sample points, and the probability of intersecting a feature, combined with the fact that square grids can avoid edge-effect biases more efficiently than the other designs. The square also requires the lowest total travel time. Substantial additional cost-efficiency can be gained by using a cluster design with at least five clusters.

Standard mitigation treatment for adverse effects to significant cultural resources has historically been a combination of data recovery excavation along with artifact analysis, reporting, and curation, whose purpose is to move the undertaking forward. Over the past several decades, there has been increased interest and understanding of alternative, or creative, mitigation options in these situations, which may, in the end, be the best option for the resource and more meaningful to both project stakeholders and the public. This article, the first in this special issue on creative mitigation, introduces the regulatory and conceptual framework for creative mitigation and weaves themes introduced in subsequent articles in this issue.

The alternative mitigation program that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) established in 2008 to address impacts to the archaeological resources in the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico, now one of the most active of the nation's oil and gas energy fields, has supported more than $10 million in field research programs and is poised to be able to fund about $1 million in field research annually for the foreseeable future. The financial success of the program is mirrored by the program's outstanding contributions to our understanding of the Permian Basin's long and complex history of human occupation. Surprisingly, although other public lands under the auspices of the BLM are seeing similar rates of energy development, the critical elements of this program have not been picked up elsewhere in the BLM. The Permian Basin program appears doomed to be an example of a “one-off” alternative mitigation solution. The factors barring more widespread adoption include the ebb and flow of energy production activity, complications arising from mixed land status and the ability to work across jurisdictional boundaries, hesitation to change procedures that are working adequately for the time being, and a lack of capacity to institute systemic change.