Doing archaeological research on the World Wide Web
A workshop presented at the 1997 Society for America Archaeology Annual Meeting
Nashville TN
by
W. Fredrick Limp
Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies
University of Arkansas
(this material can be accessed at web.cast.uark.edu/education/university/old_class_material/itarch/home)
There has been a lot of hype, hyperbole, pronouncements and just plain
lies about the potential of the World Wide Web to change our lives, so
any comments must be taken with a serious grain of salt. That being said,
though, it is clear that the WWW is, as we speak, changing things. A year
ago at the SAA meetings I was invited to give a workshop on this topic.
At that time it was clear that there were a number of interesting web sites
dealing with Americanist Archaeology but, without being critical, they
were more about style than substance, particularly when measured as vehicles
to do research. Within the last year this situation has already changed.
While we won't be replacing our libraries just yet, it is amazing how much
material of real substance for research can be found on the web. There
is still a lot of noise to the signal but there is a signal and there are
some powerful tools to magnify the signal. This list of resources is to
serve as an initial entry point into the web's research oriented sources.
It is designed as a handout for the workshop to accompany an overhead presentation
on the various sites listed briefly here.
The material is organized in two basic categories. The first is an "annotated"
listing of some of the more useful web resources. The second part is a
discussion of a number of the web search engines.
The topics are:
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/ This is the one key "starting points" for any research use of the web . all roads lead to the super resource provide by ArchNet - it is the Web's Virtual Library for Archaeology and its topic listing for archaeology and anthropology
www.nitehawk.com/alleycat/anth-faq.html A super source of sources!
www.nps.gov/crweb1/colherit.htm A starting point for a number of sources, databases and other valuable materials
www.nps.gov/ncptt/ Lots of useful links and materials- but a slow link - have partience!
www.mtsu.edu/~kesmith/TNARCHNET/archpage.html A useful regional resource and our hosts here at the SAA!
www1.pictographics.com/caa.files/caa.misc.links Many useful links to Canadian archaeological souces
web.cast.uark.edu/other/nps/nadb/ The mother of all searchable archaeological bibliographies - with more than 130,000 on-line citations
www.mtsu.edu/~kesmith/TNARCHNET/sitesurvey.html
www.mtsu.edu/~kesmith/TNARCHNET/pointbib.html
www.ucalgary.ca/~helmer/biblio.html
www.wvlc.wvnet.edu/wvarl/arcb2.html
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Botan/snewbib.htm
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Botan/midcont.htm
www.archaeology.usyd.edu.au/resources/databases/gisbiblio/index.html
www.ucalgary.ca/UoC/faculties/SS/ARKY/nicintro.html
www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/faculties/SS/ARKY/research.html
members.aol.com/OwenBruce/index.htm full text research reports, abstracts, graphics etc.
www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/faculties/SS/ARKY/chaco.html
watarts.uwaterloo.ca/ANTHRO/rwpark/ArticArchStuff/Truelove.html
www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/SS/ARKY/cayo/elcayo.html
www.sas.upenn.edu/~cerickso/baures/baures2.htm
www.lam.mus.ca.us/lacmnh/depatments/research/anthropology/
alishaw.sscf.ucsb.edu/anth/projects/lobo/SAA96/index.html An excellent example of how a scholarly paper can be developed beyond traditional paper formats when webified. The paper is in a number of formats (long and short web, scholarly and popular and even Adobe Acrobat). Solid substance and good design too!
archaeology.la.asu.edu/ Excellent example of using the capabilites of the web to improve the way information is presented. The page uses frames to present an on-line glossary and bibliography linked to the text.
www.emergentmedia.com/archy/saa/intro.html
www.wvlc.wvnet.edu/wvarl/archp.html
www.wvlc.wvnet.edu/wvarl/mounds/mounds.html
www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/faculties/SS/ARKY/show.showintro.html An interesting virtual slide show
www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/plains/Termppr.htm A paper discussiong the various ways visualization has and can be used in archaeological reports
www.sfu.ca/archarology/museum/A reseach report that includes visualizations of the site and excavations
archaeology.la.asu.edu/vm/mesoam/teo/ Both Spanish and English versions. A great deal of useful information, images and other data on the site and fieldwork
alishaw.sscf.ucsb.edu/~ford/index.html Information on the long term research at El Pilar in the Mayan area.
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Museums/Archeom.html
www.wvlc.wvnet.edu/wvarl/carbonmap.html
web.cast.uark.edu/education/university/old_class_material/projects/arch/photogram Complete report on using close range photogrammetry for artifact analysis and recording
ArchNet's list of many on line botanical and faunal resources
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Botan/Botan.html
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Faunal/Faunal.html
probe.nal.usda.gov:8000/related/aboutfoodplantdb.html An on-line database of Native American food uses of plants
ucjeps.berkeley.edu/abis/abisinfo.html databases and information on floristic inventories in a number of cooperating instutions
www.LTRR.Arizona.EDU/elsewhere.html There's not a lot of useful information at the LTRR site (other than administrative stuff) but there is a useful list of links to other sites
tree.ltrr.arizona.edu/~grissino/henri.htm A lot of useful links to actual tree ring data, software and other useful stuff
www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/paleo.html Lots of data and other useful stuff (software for analysis, etc)
FAUNMAP
www.museum.il.us/research/faunmap/aboutfaunmap.html
An electronic database (and maps) dealing with some 3,000 faunal records
from the late Quaternary
Starting (again) at the beginning
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Ceramic/Ceramics.html
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Ceramic//Hgloss/Hgloss.html
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Cermaic/ Useful source with descriptions illustrations etc. for a number of pottery types
www.wvlc.wvnet.edu/wvarl/pot.html A gem ... the notes of a talk on WV ceramics given by McMichael in 1963!
wings.buffalo.edu/academic/department/anthropology/Lithics/ Very useful site with many resources, links and other stuff about lithics. The section on "Lithic Literary Resources" has an index to some web sites that can be very useful.
www.lib.uconn.edu/NELD/ some resources, meeting notes and a searchable bibliographic database
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Lithic/Points/point.html An on-line catalogue of projectile points includes descriptions, images etc.
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Lithic/Lithic.html Another of the excellent ArchNet resources
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Museums/anmuseums.html
www.schoolnet.ca/collections/hdc/ind1en.htm (its the number 1 - ind1en) A large number of photographs of examples of aboriginal materials from the Arctic
www.cr/arte/jade/musejade.htm An interesting site dealing with jade in Costa Rican archaeology
www.chin.gc.ca/Resources/Research_Ref/Reference_Info/e_reference.html
www.quipu.uta.cl/utahtml/museo.htm Information on the museum and its collections and exhibits
www.asu.edu/cfa/isa/prism/VRmuse.html A number of interesting 3D visualizations of skeletal and archaeological materials
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Other/Journals.html An excellent starting point for locations of on-line journals.
Aerial Archaeology Newsletter www.nmia.com/~jaybird/AANewsletter very interesting site with great aerial images from the southwest
Current Archaeology, www.archaeology.co.uk/ table of contents and publication information
American Antiquity www.saa.org/Publications/AmAntiq/amantiq.html Table of contents and abstracts for issues of AA (no abstracts)
AA Current Research WWW version, www.saa.org/Publications/CurrentResearch/current.html On line contents of current research. At this writing only Great Lakes 1995 section is on the web
Latin American Antiquity www.saa.org/Publications/LatAmAnt/latamant.html Table of contents and abstracts for issues of LA (no abstracts)
Ariadne ukoln.bath.ac.uk/ariadne/about A readable and useful on-line journal about electronic libraries generally.
Online Archaeology avebury.arch.soton.ac.uk/Journal/journal.html An experimental journal - interesting
assemblage www.shef.ac.uk/uni/union/susoc/assem/ The Sheffield Graduate Journal of Archaeology. Interesting, useful and even enjoyable to read
Bulletin of Society for American Archaeology alishaw.sscf.ucsb.edu/SAABulletin/ A "real cool" site - an example of what a journal on the web can really be. Full contents of all Bulletins -plus ability to search text!
Midcontinent Journal of Archaeology www.uiowa.edu/~osa/publica/mcja/mcja.htm Just the table of contents
Internet Archaeology intarch.york.ac.uk/ A truly next-generation web journal. You must register to read the journal but the registration is free (at least for now). Note that many search engines can not/do not access pages that require registration so pages of sources such as Internet Archaeology may not (unless the publishers make the extra effort) be accessed via the traditional search engines. These pages do have their own internal search engine, however. Only a single issue to date.
Journal of Field Archaeology jfa-www.bu.edu/jfa.html
Table of contents, author index and abstracts are on-line
ads.ahds.ac.uk/ahds/ From their pages - "the aim of the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) is to collect, store, describe, catalogue, preserve, and provide user support for digital resources that are created as a product of archaeological research" While there is currently little data available, a number of UK agencies are now requiring/recommending that data sets be deposited with ADS. Their goal is to also develop standards and best practices.
archaeology.la.asu.edu/ Has a number of online databases and the ability to query them. The Roosevelt Community Development Database has a specimen, report, and analysis system on-lin.
www.nr.nps.gov/nrishome.htm More than 80,000 properties listed on the National Register - available in an on-line searchable format
web.cast.uark.edu/local/catalog/national/ A number of on-line maps of archaeological and paleoenvironmental data
spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Theory/Theory.html and spirit.lib.uconn.edu/ArchNet/Topical/Maps/Maps.html
www.pictographics.com/apmp.homepage Information on the extensive predictive modeling underway by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources conducted by Dalla Bona
deathstar.rutgers.edu/projects/france/france.html , material on an extensive project using a variety of GIS and remote sensing techniques
eleftheria.stcloud.msus.edu/rsaa/ A number of sources and material on using remote sensing in archaeology
www.sas.upenn.edu/~cerickso/applied.html Discussion of an experimental project using raised fields in the Amazon
www.hf.uio.no/iakn/roger/lithic/bar/bar1.html An on-line, hypertext, version of the 1989 BAR publication 474
weber.u.washington.edu/~anthro/BOOK/book.html
A hypertext version of the 1971 book
www.saa.org/Publications/AOA/aoa.html
"Real soon now" will have contents of printed directory on line.
Only available to SAA members
World Wide Email Directory of Anthropologists