In the next 10 years, the US cultural resource management (CRM) industry will grow in terms of monies spent on CRM activities and the size of the CRM labor force. Between US fiscal years 2022 and 2031, annual spending on CRM will increase from about $1.46 to $1.85 billion, due in part to growth in the US economy but also to an added $1 billion of CRM activities conducted in response to the newly passed infrastructure bill. The increased spending will lead to the creation of about 11,000 new full-time positions in all CRM fields. Archaeologists will be required to fill more than 8,000 positions, and of these, about 70% will require advanced degrees. Based on current graduation rates, there will be a significant MA/PhD-level job deficit. Accordingly, there is a compelling need to (a) stop the trend to close or decrease the size of current graduate programs, (b) reorient academic programs to give a greater emphasis to the skills needed to be successful in CRM, and (c) better integrate academic and applied archaeology to leverage the vast amount of data that will be generated in the next decade to best benefit the public.

Identifying previously unknown sites is a fundamental goal of the archaeological inquiry. In this article, after reporting the results of our work at Tel ‘Eton (Israel), we propose a new method that can increase the effectiveness of surveys. As part of a study of site formation processes, molehills (mole-rat back-dirt hills) were systematically sifted at Tel ‘Eton and its surroundings. It was apparent that the number and size of sherds in molehills on the mound greatly exceeded those found in its surroundings. The incidental identification of many sherds in molehills northwest of the mound, therefore, led us to suspect that this area was settled. This was tested by transecting the area. The finds, along with discoveries in the wadis cutting the plain, support this suggestion and allowed us to detect the lower city’s boundary. An examination of the site’s environments, moreover, enabled us to identify additional anomalies, like the co-occurrence of concentrations of sherds, red-soiled molehills, and slags, which might indicate an extra-mural workshop. Consequently, we suggest that a systematic examination of rodents’ back-dirt mounds can be an effective method—faster, cheaper, and more efficient than pedestrian surveys or shovel tests—of discovering unknown sites even in regions with good visibility.

Archaeologists from the Center for American Archeology (CAA) in Kampsville, Illinois, are engaged in a program to test the potential for ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistance tomography (ERT) to effectively document the internal structure of a variety of Middle (ca.2200–1550 B.P.) and Late Woodland (ca.1550–950 B.P.) mounds in the Lower Illinois River Valley (LIV). This project, embedded within ongoing CAA regional research efforts and the Arizona State University Kampsville Field School, demonstrates that both GPR and ERT permit the identification and measurement of significant internal mound structures. Key structural elements can be confidently identified in the geophysical data from the five test mounds, and excavation results can be conclusively linked with results of excavation in mounds that have been tested. This study opens the way for the development of a set of procedures for a regional research initiative in the LIV to understand structural variation between Middle and Late Woodland mounds using ground-based remote sensing methods as a primary source of data and thus minimizing invasive and destructive investigation techniques.

In early 2017, Sarah Parcak used her $1 million TED Prize to build the GlobalXplorer° platform (https://www.globalxplorer.org) “to identify and quantify looting and encroachment to sites of archaeological and historical importance,” using a crowdsourced “citizen science” methodology popularized by the Zooniverse web portal. GlobalXplorer° invited the public to search satellite imagery from Peru for evidence of looting within 100 m × 100 m squares, training them along the way and gamifying participation. In this review, I test the platform and consider the applicability of GlobalXplorer° as a vector for changing the way that the general public perceives the global illicit trade in cultural objects.

Archaeologists are using spatial data in increasingly sophisticated analyses and invoking more explicit considerations of space in their interpretations. Geographic information systems (GIS) have become standard technology for professional archaeologists in the collection and management of spatial data. Many calls have been made to develop and adapt digital geospatial technologies for interpretation and understanding past social dynamics, but this has been limited to some extent by the static nature of map-oriented GIS approaches. Here, we illustrate how coupling GIS with agent-based modeling (ABM) can assist with more dynamic explorations of past uses of space and geospatial phenomena.

In the digital age, cultural organizations strive to retain audience engagement especially via experimentation with novel technologies and social media. The latter are increasingly influencing the way cultural heritage is perceived, providing options for grappling with crucial issues in the sector, including sustainability, openness, and public participation. One tool that has been deployed to explore these issues is the chatbot, a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the internet. Chatbots run through different conversational interfaces, but they have a particularly heavy application in Facebook Messenger. Within the museums and cultural sector specifically, these robotic media are regularly proclaimed to offer novel engagement mechanisms that can empower participants to actively participate in the heritage process. However, most heritage Messenger bots are purely informative and object- or exhibit-centered, providing little opportunity for meaningful interactivity, creative expression, or critical engagement. This article explores and critically reviews three Messenger chatbots related to heritage organizations, concluding with suggestions for their future development.

Chipped-stone projectile points are used to mark the passage of time and cultures in the record. Archaeologists often recover points in surface survey, yet we do not know how many were found by private collectors before or after professional work. In a 1975–1977 Michigan probabilistic survey, professional archaeologists documented 30 private collections from 20 sample units. In those units, points found by private collectors outnumber professionally recovered ones by a factor of about 32. The survey region's point population estimated separately from the professional and private-collection samples differs by nearly an order of magnitude in favor of private collections, despite highly conservative assumptions about the latter. The number of points found in professional survey is inversely correlated with the number found in private collections, and the professional sample is more sparsely and randomly distributed. However, proportions of several common types are similar between professional and private collections. To the extent that large, reasonably complete samples of points are important for research and preservation, archaeologists must document private collections compiled in and near their survey areas.

Structure from motion (SfM) mapping is a photogrammetric technique that offers a cost-effective means of creating three-dimensional (3-D) visual representations from overlapping digital photographs. The technique is now used more frequently to document the archaeological record. We demonstrate the utility of SfM by studying red scoria bodies known as pukao from Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile). We created 3-D images of 50 pukao that once adorned the massive statues (moai) of Rapa Nui and compare them to 13 additional pukao located in Puna Pau, the island's red scoria pukao quarry. Through SfM, we demonstrate that the majority of these bodies have petroglyphs and other surface features that are relevant to archaeological explanation and are currently at risk of continued degradation.

In 2012, the Archaeology Department at James Madison’s Montpelier began an experimental program with Minelab Americas to encourage metal detectorists to become more involved in the scientific process of archaeological research. Specifically, the program is designed to be a week-long experience in which archaeologists and metal detectorists work together to identify and preserve archaeological sites at the 2,700-acre Montpelier property. In the process, the metal detector participants are taught the importance of site preservation through background lectures and hands-on field training in which they use their metal detectors as a remote sensing device. Participants learn how gridded metal detector surveys are conducted and the importance of proper context and curation of recovered objects. The team-based approach of our program has resulted in a co-creation process whereby metal detectorists bring to the table their skills in using their machines to identify subtle metallic artifact signals and archaeologists bring the skill of systematic survey techniques to map and record archaeological sites. In the end, teamwork encourages open and frank discussions regarding the interface between metal detecting and the archaeological communities and has gone a long way toward reconciling differences between these two groups who have a long history of strained relations.

Although remote sensing techniques are increasingly becoming ubiquitous within archaeological research, their proper and ethical use has rarely been critically examined, particularly among Native American communities. Potential ethical challenges are outlined, along with suggested changes to archaeological frameworks that will better address Native American concerns. These changes center on a revised view of remote sensing instruments as being potentially invasive and extractive, even if nondestructive. Understanding the potentially invasive and extractive nature of these tools and methods, archaeologists are urged to work closely with Native/Indigenous communities to create more holistic practices that include community knowledge holders and to actively discourage stereotypes that pit archaeologists and Native/Indigenous communities against one another. Considering the speed at which remote sensing is being used in archaeology, these changes need to be embraced as soon as possible so that future work can be conducted in an ethical manner.

Data collected from aerial lidar scanning provides new opportunities for archaeological survey. It is now possible, in a short period of time, to collect vast amounts of geographic data that would have taken years of pedestrian survey to acquire. This enhances and extends landscape studies by reducing time-frames and cost, encouraging analyses based on real-world data collection on a regional scale. This paper describes an approach for modeling the ritual landscape surrounding the ancient Maya center of Las Cuevas, Belize by analyzing the spatial aspects of ritual cave use. Using lidar-derived data, we describe a method for locating potential cave sites using Local Relief Models, which requires only a working knowledge of relief visualization techniques and no specialized skills in computer programming. Our method located the five known cave sites within our 222 km2 lidar study area—including one with a fissure entrance. We plan to ground-truth potentialities to develop models of the ritual landscape that can be visualized and analyzed. By researching cave use on a regional scale and defining the relationships between caves and surface features, we advance cave studies by deepening our understanding of the ritual landscape and its articulation with ancient Maya socio/political dynamics.

Place-based education is a method of teaching that uses exploration of a local environment or community through hands-on, real-world learning to foster a strong connection to community. This model emphasizes co-creation of knowledge throughout the learning process and has been applied to a variety of disciplines, including social and natural sciences. Taught through place-based approaches in both the classroom and in the field, archaeology can provide a curriculum that connects students to their environment and local heritage. The Mercill Archaeology Center in Jackson, Wyoming, seeks to address an “educational resources gap” in the local community by offering place-based programming for students. The programs focused on the archaeology of the Linn Site and operated in two formats: a short (five-day) camp for elementary-age students and a more intensive (semester-long) course with gifted and talented students from the local middle school. Students participated in introductory cultural history and archaeological classes before joining archaeologists in active research. By highlighting these programs as case studies, this article will explore the successes and challenges of place-based field programming as part of active archaeological research. It is hoped that these models will provide guidance for other community-oriented archaeological projects seeking to implement a place-based approach.

In this article we explore the relationship between spatial proximity and indices of social connectivity during the A.D. 1200–1450 interval in the United States (U.S.) Southwest. Using geographic information systems (GIS), we develop indices of spatial proximity based on the terrain-adjusted cost distance between sites in a regional settlement and material cultural database focused on the western U.S. Southwest. We evaluate the hypothesis that social interaction is a function of proximity and that interactions will be most intense among near neighbors. We find that this hypothesis is supported in some instances but that the correlation between proximity and interaction is highly variable in the context of late precontact social upheaval. Furthermore, we show important discrepancies between the Puebloan north and the Hohokam south that help to explain differences in community sustainability in the two regions.

We describe the curation and use of clay samples as part of the ceramic ecology program at the Florida Museum of Natural History's Ceramic Technology Laboratory (FLMNH-CTL). We outline the history of the comparative clay sample collection at the FLMNH-CTL and detail the standard operating procedure by which samples are processed, analyzed, and curated. We also provide examples of how the clay samples have been used in research projects as well as some of the challenges inherent to studies using such samples. Our collection of processed clays and associated thin sections, which is curated in perpetuity, represents a valuable resource for ongoing and future lab endeavors and is available to other researchers focusing on Florida and adjacent regions.

For many years, archaeologists have relied on Munsell Soil Color Charts (MSCC) as tools for standardizing the recording of soil and sediment colors in the field and artifacts such as pottery in the lab. Users have identified multiple potential sources of discrepancy in results, such as differences in inter-operator perception, light source, or moisture content of samples. In recent years, researchers have developed inexpensive digital methods for color identification, but these typically cannot be done in real time. Now, a field-ready digital color-matching instrument is marketed to archaeologists as a replacement for MSCC, but the accuracy and overall suitability of this device for archaeological research has not been demonstrated. Through three separate field and laboratory trials, we found systematic mismatches in the results obtained via device, including variable accuracy against standardized MSCC chips, which should represent ideal samples. At the same time, the instrument was consistent in its readings. This leads us to question whether using the “subjective” human eye or the “objective” digital eye is preferable for data recording of color. We discuss how project goals and limitations should be considered when deciding which color-recording method to employ in field and laboratory settings, and we identify optimal procedures.

Recent years have seen the rapid adoption of digital site recording strategies following the proliferation of GPS-enabled mobile devices and data collection apps. Much of the emerging literature on digital—or paperless—archaeology, however, has focused on excavation contexts, with fewer discussions of mobile-GIS solutions on archaeological survey. This article discusses the design and implementation of a site survey workflow based on Esri's ArcGIS Collector mobile app in the context of Project ArAGATS's Kasakh Valley Archaeology Survey in northwestern Armenia. The Collector app provides a simple, map-centric user interface that allows surveyors with little-to-no GIS experience to record site locations, enter attribute data on customized digital forms, and attach photographs. With a network connection, the Collector app instantly uploads site information as GIS data to the project geodatabase and refreshes the data across surveyors’ mobile devices. Although the Collector app lacks certain GIS features and requires an institutional Esri license, we found that the native integration with our project GIS and broad access to visualization and recording tools in the app made in-field decision-making and interpretation more collaborative and inclusive across the survey team.

For tribes whose preservation values and mitigation strategies for managing cultural heritage are built on an ethic of avoidance and minimal disturbance, geophysical technologies can be key components of the research design. These technologies, most notably ground-penetrating radar, have been used with great success in identifying and evaluating the depth, extent, and composition of some of those resources for heritage research and management purposes, easing tensions when working with sensitive ancestral places. Additionally, research in archaeological geophysics has shifted from feature finding in order to excavate targets of interest to the recognition that geophysical survey can provide data and interpretations for whole sites and landscapes complementary to or beyond that of excavation, especially regarding the intactness and sensitivity of cultural heritage sites. This use of geophysics as a primary method for research rather than a precursor to archaeological research has empowered tribes with another tool to advocate for low-impact investigation of ancestral sites and landscapes that position tribes as pro-science. Geophysical technologies provide scientifically rigorous yet minimally impactful strategies for investigating heritage while satisfying the requirements of academic and compliance archaeology in ways that can also be culturally appropriate for a much broader spectrum of tribal cultural heritage under consideration.

Digital literacy has been cited as one of the primary challenges to ensuring data reuse and increasing the value placed on open science. Incorporating published data into classrooms and training is at the core of tackling this issue. This article presents case studies in teaching with different published data platforms, in three different countries (the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States), to students at different levels and with differing skill levels. In outlining their approaches, successes, and failures in teaching with open data, it is argued that collaboration with data publishers is critical to improving data reuse and education. Moreover, increased opportunities for digital skills training and scaffolding across program curriculum are necessary for managing the learning curve and teaching students the values of open science.

Video games are one of today's quintessential media and cultural forms, but they also have a surprising and many-sided relation with the past (Morgan 2016). This certainly holds true for Sid Meier's Civilization (MicroProse & Firaxis Games 1991–2016), which is a series of turn-based, strategy video games in which you lead a historic civilization “from the Stone Age to the Information Age” (Civilization ca. 2016). Sid Meier's Civilization VI, the newest iteration of the series developed by Firaxis and released on October 21, 2016, allows players to step into the shoes of idealized political figures such as Gilgamesh, Montezuma, Teddy Roosevelt, and Gandhi. Via these and other leaders, you aim to achieve supremacy over all other civilizations. This is done through founding cities, creating infrastructure, building armies, conducting diplomacy, spreading culture and religion, and choosing “technologies” and “civics”—philosophical or ideological breakthroughs—for your civilization to focus on.

High-quality archaeological surveys and data are vital to preservation planning and mitigation efforts. Federal and state historic preservation offices (SHPOs) are accumulating and reviewing more data at an ever-faster pace. Given the critical nature of this information, a SAA task force was charged with assessing current survey practices and concerns. Our review indicates that survey policies and archaeological standards have improved substantially over the last two decades, but SHPOs remain challenged by insufficient professional training for field archaeologists, the need for standardization and integration of new technologies in field work, reporting, and review, as well as the sheer quantity and variety of digital data. A number of analytical tools and metrics are available to assess data quality, but seemingly there is not time or money for states to evaluate how to improve existing and future survey data. We draw upon a survey of SHPOs, a review of current literature, and our own experience to assess archaeological survey quality, data utility and durability for current and anticipated future uses. We offer suggestions on how to move forward, including consideration of an e-106 system for streamlining transfer and exchange of digital data and upgrading current approaches to survey and planning.