Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:10:33.425Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The application of quick response (QR) codes in archaeology: a case study at Telperion Shelter, South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Tim Forssman
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand, Rock Art Research Institute, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, PO Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa (Email: [email protected])
Jacqueline Jordaan
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Department of Anthropology, 15 Chancellor Circle, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Katherine Forssman
Affiliation:
Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Old Soutpan Road, Pretoria 0110, South Africa
Gerhard Jordaan
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Department of Anthropology, 15 Chancellor Circle, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Christian Louw
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand, Rock Art Research Institute, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, PO Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa (Email: [email protected])

Extract

Accurate, efficient and clear recording is a key aim of archaeological field studies, but one not always achieved. Errors occur and information is not always properly recorded. Left unresolved, these errors create confusion, delay analysis and result in the loss of data, thereby causing misinterpretation of the past. To mitigate these outcomes, quick response (QR) codes were used to record the rock art of Telperion Shelter in Mpumalanga Province, eastern South Africa. The QR codes were used to store important contextual information. This increased the rate of field recording, reduced the amount of field errors, provided a cost effective alternative to conventional field records and enhanced data presentation. Such a tool is useful to archaeologists working in the field, and for those presenting heritage-based information to a specialist, student or amateur audience in a variety of formats, including scientific publications. We demonstrate the tool's potential by presenting an overview and critique of our use of QR codes at Telperion Shelter.

Type
Method
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Crompton, H., LaFrance, J. & van ‘t Hooft, M.. 2012. QR codes 101. Learning & Leading with Technology June/July: 22–25.Google Scholar
Dibble, H.L., Marean, C.W. & McPherron, S.P.. 2007. The use of barcodes in excavation projects: examples from Mossel Bay (South Africa) and Roc de Marsal (France). The SAA Archaeological Record 7 (1): 3338.Google Scholar
Farina, S., Paganucci, S. & Landini, W.. 2011. Data matrix codes: experimental use in a museum exhibition. Atti della Società Toscana de Scienze Naturali di Pisa 118: 7580.Google Scholar
Forssman, T. & Louw, C.. In press. Leaving a mark: South African War-period (1899–1902) refuge graffiti at Telperion Shelter in western Mpumalanga, South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin 71.Google Scholar
Galani, A., Mazel, A., Maxwell, D. & Sharpe, K.. 2013. Situating cultural technologies outdoors: empathy in the design of mobile interpretation of rock art in rural Britain, in Ch'ng, E., Gaffney, V. & Chapman, H. (ed.) Visual heritage in the digital age: 183204. London: Springer.10.1007/978-1-4471-5535-5_10Google Scholar
Kiryakova, G., Angelova, N. & Yordanova, I.. 2013. QR codes in the business world. Trakia Journal of Science 11: 370–76.Google Scholar
Latzko-Toth, G. & Barnhurst, K.G.. 2012. The silent invasion of the matrix: Q(uee)R-coding public visual spaces, in Latzko-Toth, G. & Millerand, F. (ed.) Proceedings of the technology and emerging media track: 1–14. Waterloo: Annual Conference of the Canadian Communication Association.Google Scholar
MacDonald, S. 2012. Implementation of QR codes at Indiana University's Fine Arts Library. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 31: 276–84.Google Scholar
Martínez-Moreno, J., Marcén, P.G. & Torcal, R.M.. 2011. Data matrix (DM) codes: a technological process for the management of the archaeological record. Journal of Cultural Heritage 12: 134–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2010.10.001 Google Scholar
Mazel, A., Galani, A., Maxwell, D. & Sharpe, K.. 2012. ‘I want to be provoked’: public involvement in the development of the ‘Northumberland Rock Art on Mobile Phones’ project. World Archaeology 44: 592611. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2012.741813 Google Scholar
Mitchell, P.J. 2002. The archaeology of southern Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, N.G. & Levy, T.E.. 2012. Real-time 3D archaeological field recording: ArchField, an open-source GIS system pioneered in southern Jordan. Antiquity 86 (331): Project Gallery. Available at: http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/smith331/ (accessed 18 May 2016).Google Scholar