GPS Training at Prospection in Depth, an NPCTT training course.

Deidre McCarthy conducts a field exercise with NCPTT Summer Institute participants using Trimble Global Positioning System equipment. McCarthy was an instructor in the course “Prospection in Depth: Developing Advanced GPS, GIS and Geophysical Skills through Plantation Archeology.”

NCPTT’s Archeology and Collections Program seeks to foster and develop technological innovations and applications that enhance the preservation of archeological sites, landscapes, materials, and collections.

Eons of the human past are unknown but for the record people left in the ground and across the landscape. Industrial and technological developments of the last two centuries have threatened this record to an unparalleled degree. Even the process of doing archaeology takes its toll on the very resources from which we seek to learn about the past. Modern technological innovations have, however, given us the capability of protecting these finite materials and places in ways that once were unimaginable.

Related Articles

NameDate
“Prospection in Depth” is held at El Presidio de San Francisco
Prospection in Depth
 

NCPTT held its third annual workshop on archeological prospection Sept. 16-20, 2008 at the historic Presidio in San Francisco.

10/01/2008
Why Can’t We Just All Get Along? Connecting the Ground to the Adminisphere at the Remote Site Surveillance Meeting
NCPTT
 

When organizing the Remote Site Surveillance meeting held last year, in August of 2008, one of the things I hoped to do was spark discussion about the administrative sustainability of surveillance/monitoring programs…

03/31/2009
Wet Recovery Workshops
Wet Recovery Workshop
 

NCPTT worked in conjunction with the American Institute for Conservation to produce the workshop series, “After the Storm: Recovery of Wet Collections,” which was held in March.

04/17/2006
Webinar: Submerged Cultural Resources
shipwreck
 

A free webinar session at the 29th International Submerged Lands Management Conference will address cultural resources. This session will cover issues surrounding the assessment of injury and damage to submerged cultural resources from oil or chemical spills, groundings, looting or any other man-made impact. The speakers will discuss the various methodologies that are used to conduct ...

11/15/2010
Webinar trains Vanishing Treasures Personnel in high definition technology for archeology
CyArk 3D Heritage Archive
 

Texas Tech University and CyArk have produced a webinar to train Vanishing Treasures personnel in the use of High Definition tools in archeology.

02/04/2009
Web Catalog Increases Access to NPS Museum Collections
Web catalog image
 

The National Park Service (NPS) Museum Management Program has re-launched its Web Catalog museum collections website. This project is an ongoing initiative that supports the Director’s Call to Action #17, “Go Digital” by providing online access to thousands of images and records from the NPS museum collections.

01/16/2013
Video Preservation Website: Migration of Historic Video Tape to Digital Video Files (2007-13)
Video Preservation Website
 

This thorough website was built and designed as a clearinghouse of information on videotape preservation.

11/08/2007
USS Arizona: Preserving a War Memorial (2004-23)
2004-23
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
USGBC Seeks Public Input on LEED
The First Regiment Armory Annex in Portland, Oregon was the first building on the National Register to achieve LEED Platinum Certification.
 

The U. S. Green Building Council recently released a draft update on its LEED rating system and is seeking public input by January 14, 2011.

12/21/2010
Use of Remote Sensing to Evaluate and Monitor the Condition of Prehistoric Earthen Structures (2000-14)
2000-14
 

The intent of the proposed research was to use historic aerial photographs to evaluate the effectiveness of using them as a data source to detect and document change in prehistoric earthen structures through time. There was some reason to believe that photogrammetric methods could serve as a basis for detecting changes in such archaeological remains, ...

12/31/2000
U.S. Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage Beyond the Territorial Sea: Problems and Prospects (2000-23)
4994104027_6893f5867f_b
 

U.S. treatment of underwater cultural heritage beyond the territorial sea is analysed in light of Law of the Sea principles and the UNESCO Draft Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. Article published in 2000.

12/31/2000
Two Additional 2012 PTT Grants Awarded
Dugout canoe moved to the Hibulb Cultural Center for Conservation.
 

Two additional grants totaling $50,000 were made to the following recipients. The Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center is receiving $25,000 to develop a symposium on the Conservation and Continuation of Native American Monumental Wood Carving. The California Preservation Foundation is receiving $25,000 to advance distance learning through the Preservation Virtual Classroom.

09/19/2012
Turning the Wheel, or What Preserve America and Drugs Have in Common…
my-hand-with-sibley-lake-point
 

Katrina, 9-11, and “other challenges mean the preservation of our historic resources…requires innovative and proactive approaches during the coming decades” (Preserve America p5). That, I think, is where our remote archaeological site surveillance event comes into its own, especially when you consider how clearly antiquities trade, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism are becoming linked.

02/24/2009
Thin-Section Petrography Workshop a Success
Small Bamiyan Buddha Thin Section
 

Under the microscope sat a thin section of the smaller Bamiyan Buddha from Afghanistan which was destroyed in 2001. As polarizing filters were placed in front of and behind the sample creating cross polarization, grains of large quartz, feldspars, chert, and other components sparkled in vivid color on a dark background. This technique is called ...

04/03/2012
The Use of Multibeam Swath Bathymetry for the Identification and Assessment of Underwater Archaeological Sites
NCPTT
 

This project was a two-phase approach to evaluating the use of multibeam swath bathymetry as a new tool for underwater archeology.

06/18/2007
The Philosophy of In-use Musical Instrument Conservation (Podcast 28)
AIU Front Cover
 

In this edition of the podcast, we join NCPTT’s Anna Muto as she speaks with John Watson, Instruments Conservator and Associate Curator at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Today they will discuss the special considerations of conservation when artifacts remain in use.

01/23/2011
The North American Database and Website of Archaeological Geophysics (NADAG) (2000-21)
The North American Database and Website of Archaeological Geophysics - Screenshot
 

“The North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics (NADAG) is a database and website under continuous development that aims to promote use, education, communication, and a knowledge base of the practice of archaeological geophysics in North America.   It is maintained by the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas at: www.cast.uark.edu/nadag.”  (Excerpted ...

12/31/2000
The Highest of High-Tech: A Sheet (or Three) of Paper
Site Vulnerability Assessment Form Summary Page
 

As part of our Remote Site Surveillance event in August of 2008, which I’ve mentioned in the prior two blog posts, we are working to enhance the joint U.S. Forest Service-Louisiana Army National Guard’s “Site Vulnerability Assessment Model.”

03/10/2009
Testing the Regional Reliability of Spectral Signatures of Archaeological Phenomena (2006-01)
Testing the Regional Reliability of Spectral Signatures of Archaeological Phenomena
 

The research reported herein focuses on developing and testing predictive models based on the satellite remote-sensing (SRS) of prehistoric and historic archaeological phenomena. With advances in the resolution of satellite-borne imagery, such as IKONOS, and the availability of software designed to process such imagery, such as ENVI, archaeological predictive modeling is positioned to progress beyond ...

12/31/2006
Technologies for Drying Archeological Wood from Shipwrecks (Podcast 14)
ericschindelholz
 

In this edition of the Preservation Technology Podcast, we meet Eric Schindelholz, a conservator in private practice who specializes in metals and marine archaeological materials. Eric was the principal investigator for a PTT Grant Project that examined methods to dry waterlogged archaeological wood.

02/16/2010
Technical Assistance in Archeology in Major Erosion
NCPTT
 

NCPTT responded to a request by Cane River Creole National Historical Park for technical assistance in archeology.

12/18/2006
Surviving Disaster: dPlan online software helps collections managers plan for the worst
Screenshot: dPlan online disaster collections tool
 

A good plan can determine whether a cultural collection survives a disaster or fades into memory. And while nature can be unpredictable, the online disaster-planning portal “dPlan” offers a streamlined, reliable way for institutions to protect their cultural collections. Created through funding by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, dPlan is a free, ...

08/26/2011
Southeastern Archaeological Conference Student Paper Prize
SEAC
 

The Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC) has hosted a competition each year since 1991 for the most outstanding paper submitted by a student about the prehistory, ethnohistory, or historical archaeology of the Southeast.

07/18/2007
Shipwreck: America’s Underwater Heritage (2004-18)
2004-18
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
SHA 2009 Conference
sha-logo
 

The Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) will hold its annual conference entitled “The Ties That Divide: Trade, Conflict & Borders” from January 6-11, 2009 in Toronto, ON, Canada.

12/31/2008
Secret of Lake Meade: America’s Cultural Heritage Underwater (2004-17)
2004-17
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Second Life as an Archaeological Tool (Podcast 5)
Çatalhöyük
 

Today in The Preservation Technology Podcast, NCPTT visits with Ruth Tringham, one of the founders of the University of California Berkley the People in Multimedia Authoring Center for Teaching in Anthropology at Berkley (MACTiA). As a professor of anthropology at the University of California at Berkley Ruth uses an online virtual environment called Second Life ...

06/18/2009
SAA Annual Meeting
NCPTT
 

David Morgan, NCPTT archeology and collections chief, presented a paper at the Society of American Archeologists (SAA) annual meeting on burials excavated from Jackson Barracks in New Orleans.

06/12/2006
Root of the Problem (1998-33)
1998-33
 

Neville Agnew of the Getty Conservation Institute speaks about the conservation of the hominid footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania. He lists three primary conservation topics that the general public will care about: Egyptology, dinosaurs, and human ancestry.

09/22/2008
Role of Technology in Archeological Resource Protection
NCPTT
 

The Louisiana Army National Guard has provided funding for NCPTT to host a workshop on the role of technology in archeological resource protection, especially in regard to remote site surveillance techniques.

10/08/2007
Rocket Science and 3D Analyses in the Preservation of Artistic and Historic Works
john_asmus
 

This presentation was presented as the keynote address for the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012, Presidio, San Francisco, CA.   Rocket Science and 3D Analyses in the Preservation of Artistic and Historic Works More than sixty years ago development began on the nuclear-propelled ORION Spaceship destined for a manned mission to the planet Saturn. This ...

10/29/2012
Rock-art Image in Fern Cave, Lava Beds National Monument, California: not the AD 1054 (Crab Nebula) supernova (1997-13)
An absolute dating contradicts that supposition in respect of a presumed image of the visible supernova of AD 1054.
 

The visual manifestation of the recent Hale-Bopp comet reminds us how telling are those rare objects which suddenly flare in the sky. One can suppose ancient people living by natural light were more compellingly struck by the sight of comets and supernovae, and understandably researchers seek images of them in the shapes of rock-art motifs. ...

12/31/1997
Rising from the Depths
NCPTT
 

When Union ships sunk the English blockade runner Modern Greece off the coast of North Carolina in 1862, Confederates at nearby Fort Fisher wasted little time in salvaging munitions from the vessel. Nearly 150 years later, what they left behind is helping make history in preservation research.

09/13/2007
Removal of Arsenic and Mercury Contamination in Museums using a Natural Environmentally Benign Chemical (2006-02)
2006-02
 

Some natural science specimens and ethnographic artifacts in museums were historically treated with arsenic and mercury salts. This has created an environmental concern for museum workers and the public who may be exposed to these toxins. In addition, museums are frequently being asked to return sacred objects under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation ...

12/31/2006
Reflectance Transformation Imaging Workshop, July 16-19, 2012
A demonstration of the equipment needed for RTI documentation.
 

Cultural Heritage Imaging (C-H-I) is offering a four-day workshop on the use of reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) to document cultural heritage.  The workshop will be held July 16-19, 2012 at the C-H-I offices in San Francisco, California.  The new technique helps create digital representations of artifacts and sites.  The workshop is a combination of lectures, demonstrations ...

03/08/2012
Reflectance Transformation Imaging Workshop
CHI: www.c-h-i.org/index.html
 

One of the biggest barriers to the rapid spread of cutting edge, innovative technologies in archeology is cost.  Let’s face it: things that end in “-ometer” or “-oscopy” tend to be pricey.  And if they are really new, or if their utility in some contexts has yet to be proven, the price remains in the stratosphere ...

07/14/2009
Readings in Site Discovery and Site Evaluation (1995-14)
1995-14
 

This publication contains a number of readings that aid in the decision-making process involved with the discovery and evaluation of archeological sites.

12/31/1995
pXRF Presentation at LAS/MAA
pxrf-seac-title1
 

NCPTT’s David W. Morgan and Jason Church presented preliminary results of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of copper at the joint Louisiana Archaeological Society and Mississippi Archaeological Association meeting held from February 27-March 1, 2009 in Natchez, Miss.

03/03/2009
PTT Grants research on aerial thermal infrared concludes
NCPTT
 

Christopher Fennell of the University of Illinois recently concluded a study on the use of aerial thermal infrared technology to identify the infrastructural features of archeological sites.

03/17/2009
PTT Grantees Make Time Team America
Chris Fennell, Univ. of Illinois
 

Getting archeology onto the silver or flat screen has always been a tricky proposition: you have to entertain, but stick to the facts, all without encouraging site looting. One of the programs that seems to have done it, at least in the U.K., is Time Team. And now it’s coming to the ...

07/09/2009
Protecting Gullah Land and Community: A Locative Media Website for Tourism, Community Planning and Education (2012-09)
2012-09
 

In its simplest form, locative media is a portal through which location can be connected to content. By delivering content directly to a hand-held GPS-enabled device, the interpretive material has the potential to create a visitor experience that is simultaneously self-directed, has low infrastructure costs, and has minimal negative impact to the local community and their cultural landscapes. However, ...

11/16/2012
Prospection in Depth: September 16-20, 2008
NCPTT
 

NCPTT will hold its third annual workshop on archeological prospection Sept. 16-20, 2008, in San Francisco.

06/10/2008
Prospection In Depth Online
NCPTT
 

A beta web version of the NCPTT Summer Institute course, Prospection in Depth, is available online.

10/20/2006
Prospection in Depth 2009 Limited Seating Still Available for Geophysics Workshop
Prospection in Depth 2009
 

David Morgan, Chief of Archeology and Collections at the National Park Service National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, talks about the annual geophysics workshop course that we call Prospection in Depth Limited seating is still available for this five day course at the Presidio in San Francisco from August 4-8, 2009. The tuition of $499 ...

07/01/2009
Prospection in Depth 2009
Prospection in Depth
 

Prospection in Depth 2009, a course in archaeological geophysics, will be hosted from August 4-8, 2009 in partnership with the Presidio Trust at the site of El Presidio de San Francisco, in California. Register for this course online.

05/25/2009
Prospection in Depth 2009
NCPTT
 

NCPTT and the Presidio Trust will present “Prospection in Depth 2009,” a workshop on geophysical prospection on August 4-8.

03/24/2009
Prospection in Depth 2008: September 16-20, 2008, San Francisco
presidio-top
 

Geophysical techniques like radar, magnetometry, conductivity, and resistivity are fast becoming essential archeological skills.

02/05/2008
Prospection in Depth 2007
NCPTT
 

NCPTT hosted Prospection in Depth, a GPS, GIS, and Geophysical technologies workshop held June 18-23, 2007.

08/10/2007
Prospection in Depth 2006
sunrise-on-cane-river
 

In June 2006 the NCPTT hosted “Prospection in Depth,” a Summer Institute training program in GIS, GPS, and remote sensing aimed at archaeology professionals and students around the country. Four instructors and 10 participants used the St. Anne and Whittington sites as learning laboratories. This group of 14 collected GPS and remote sensing data, analyzed ...

04/19/2007
Prospection in Depth 2006
NCPTT
 

From June 6-23, 2006, NCPTT partnered with the NPS Midwest Archeology Center, the NPS Cultural Resources GIS laboratory, the University of Mississippi, and Northwestern State University of Louisiana to hold its first training program on non-destructive archeological prospection techniques. This intensive workshop is unique in that it uses data from an ongoing, mature grant-funded research ...

06/26/2006
Prospection in Depth
2007-pid-intro-11
 

Annually NCPTT hosts “Prospection in Depth,” an integrated, holistic professional development workshop fusing GIS, GPS, and geophysical prospection.

09/25/2008
Proposal to Reduce the Exposure to Light of Museum Objects Without Reducing Illuminance (2000-10)
Christopher Cuttle works with the Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to explore museum lighting options.  This image by Stuck in Customs on Flickr.
 

“Many types of museum exhibits are susceptible to damage caused by exposure to light, and current recommendations for museum lighting include avoidance of nonvisible radiant power (UV and IR), limitation of illumination level, and restriction of exposure duration. This article investigates the notion that the visual satisfaction provided by incandescent sources could be matched with significantly ...

12/31/2000
Priorities for Natural History Collections Conservation Research: Results of a Survey of the SPNHC Membership (2001-02)
Priorities for Natural History Collections Conservation Research: Results of a Survey of the SPNHC Membership - Document Cover
 

The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) is a multidisciplinary international organization composed of individuals and institutions who are interested in the development and preservation of natural history collections. Under the direction of the SPNHC Conservation Committee and its Research Subcommittee, the project coordinator surveyed the SPNHC membership by mail to develop ...

12/31/2001
Preservation Symposium to Honor James Marston Fitch
James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation
 

A symposium is being held on Saturday, September 26, 2009, from 9AM to 5PM to honor James Marston Fitch, a founding father of historic preservation in the United States. Fitch was an architect, preservationist, and a founder of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. The topic for this year will be ...

09/15/2009
Preservation of Human Dental Surface Micro-Topography with Three-Dimensional Non-Destructive Digital Imaging (2012-01)
Dental imaging
 

Human skeletal remains from archeological sites are often studied to determine historical information such as sex, age, and health, among other facts.  The information from individuals can be used to better understand a population and the culture of a past people.  With the aid of a Preservation Technology and Training Grant, Dr. Shannon Hodge at ...

02/28/2012
Preparing Your Collection for a Disaster
800px-FEMA_-_20570_-_Photograph_by_Marvin_Nauman_taken_on_11-16-2005_in_Louisiana
 

Preparing your collection for a disaster could greatly increase what survives. Northeast Document Conservation Center recommends to first prepare an emergency preparedness plan. This will allow your staff to respond quickly before, during and after a disaster with explict instructions that will provide the best practices for preparing and salvaging your collections. ...

08/26/2011
Preparing Historic Buildings and Sites for a Disaster
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. (www.photolib.noaa.gov)
 

If any substantial changes are planned to prepare a historic building for a disaster please refer to the Secretary of Interiors Standards for the Treatment of Historic Structures and check with all local and state authorities before making any changes. This article provides information on disaster preparedness in the face of floods, high winds, hurricanes, wildfires, ...

10/29/2012
Plasma extraction and AMS 14C dating of rock paintings (1997-14)
1997-14
 

We developed a plasma-chemical technique to remove carbon from rock paintings. This extraction is followed by accelerator mass spectrometric analysis of the 14C to yield direct estimates of the ages of rock paintings. We have demonstrated use of the technique on charcoal as well as iron and manganese pigmented paintings. Unfortunately, there are no rock paintings made ...

12/31/1997
Petrographic Analysis for Conservation
Chandra Reedy helps students during the 2012 Petrography for Conservation class
 

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) and The Center for Historic Architecture and Design (CHAD) in the University of Delaware’s School of Public Policy and Administration are partnering to host a two-day hands-on workshop on the uses of polarized light microscopy for the study of stone and ceramic cultural materials.  The workshop ...

11/15/2012
Origin of Whewellite-Rich Rock Crust in the Lower Pecos Region of Southwest Texas and its Significance to Paleoclimate Reconstructions (1996-03)
Origin of Whewellite-Rich Rock Crust in the Lower Pecos Region of Southwest Texas and its Significance to Paleoclimate Reconstructions - Document Cover
 

A calcium oxalate (whewellite)-rich crust occurs on exposed limestone surfaces in dry rock and open air shelters in the Lower Pecos region of southwest Texas.

12/31/1996
NPS Archeology Program Urban Archeology Corps
Urban Archeology Corps participants work at Fort Mahan
 

In the pilot year of summer 2012, the NPS Archeology Program partnered with Groundwork Anacostia River DC to carry out the Urban Archeology Corps at Fort Mahan, one of the Fort Circle Parks and part of the Civil War Defenses of Washington. The work experience aimed to broaden urban youths’ knowledge about the communities east ...

08/22/2012
New Technology, New Opportunities: Development of a National Chert Characterization Database (2012-03)
2012-03 Tulane
 

The research funded by the NCPTT grant has begun the development of a broad chert database, to provide a mechanism for comparing artifacts to known chert sources. The development and publication on the web of this database will make possible comparisons from across the country. As more XRF instruments become available at research ...

11/16/2012
New Research Priority for Archeology
NCPTT
 

NCPTT has created a new research priority for its grants program targeting the field of archeology.

11/01/2006
New Life for Native Artifacts
Roane (left) and Nancy Odegaard (right), conservator and head of preservation at the Arizona State Museum, assess an artifact in the cleaning study.
 

Recent research reveals bacteria may be the biggest ally in the fight to preserve ancient artifacts from erosion and deterioration.

03/01/2009
NCPTT’s Conservation Team Sources Copper
Demonstrating pXRF to Museum Visitors
 

On October 20, 2012, Jason Church, Curtis Desselles, and Tad Britt—National Center for Preservation Technology and Training—demonstrated copper sourcing using Native American copper fragments from the Gahagan site located in Louisiana.  The team brought the portable x-ray fluorescence instrument, which identifies elemental analysis.  This technology allows for “fingerprinting” the sample, which can then be compared ...

10/22/2012
NCPTT Provides Archeology Technical Assistance to Louisiana State Exhibit Museum
NCPTT
 

NCPTT recently provided technical assistance to the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport regarding concerns about the condition of several archeological copper objects associated with the Gahagan burials that were excavated in the 1930s.

02/04/2008
NCPTT Archeologist Surveys Hurricane Sandy Effects.
Great Kills Beach Clean up
 

Tad Britt, NCPTT’s Chief of Archeology and Collections, spent 13-23 November in Staten Island and surrounding area surveying hurricane damage per Section 106 of the NHRP, as amended.  Britt was part of the READ (research advisor) team who were deployed to investigate the park properties, which had been subjected to the ravenous effects of Hurricane ...

11/26/2012
Nature of a Whewellite-Rich Rock Crust Associated with Pictographs in Southwest Texas (1999-17)
1999-17
 

A whewellite-rich rock crust covers vast areas of limestone inside dry rock shelters and under rock overhangs throughout the Lower Pecos Region in southwestern Texas (USA).

12/31/1999
National Park Service Geophysics Training at Los Adaes (Podcast 4)
NCPTT
 

David W. Morgan, Chief of Archeology and Collections at NCPTT, introduces the 19th annual National Park Service Geophysics course taught by Steve De Vore. This video includes a description of the course and commentary by participants. Steve has assembled about 10 different instructors and about 18-20 participants that are providing classroom opportunities at NCPTT and ...

05/29/2009
National Park Service 2007 Archaeological Prospection Workshop
NCPTT
 

The National Park Service’s 2007 workshop on archaeological prospection techniques entitled Current Archaeological Prospection Advances for Non-Destructive Investigations in the 21st Century will be held May 14-18, 2007, at the HAMMER Training Center, Richland, Washington.

01/26/2007
Museum Lighting Protocols (1998-31)
1998-31
 

Museum conservators and the like are well acquainted with the fact that some types of museum exhibits are susceptible to damage caused by exposure to light.

12/31/1998
Mound Chronology through Pedogenesis
NCPTT
 

Sediments used to build earthworks break down into identifiable soil horizons over time. Previous and on-going studies show that older earthworks have a more developed soil sequence with a well defined and thick accumulation of clay.

07/18/2007
Morgan Presents at Southeastern Archaeological Conference
NCPTT
 

David Morgan, NCPTT Archeology and Collections chief, attended the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Little Rock.

12/11/2006
Morgan Presents at Heritage of Africans in New World Colloquium
NCPTT
 

David Morgan, Archeology and Collections program chief, presented “Plantation Pottery along the Cane River: Colonoware and Ethnicity” and “The Coincoin Plantation and African Architecture in Louisiana” at Abolition 2007.

05/04/2007
Morgan Presents at From Slavery to Freedom Symposium
NCPTT
 

“Contemporary Myths: Deconstructing the Late Colonial/Early American Creole Landscape at the Coincoin Plantation”

04/02/2007
Morgan Lead Author on Paper in American Anthropologist
NCPTT
 

David Morgan of NCPTT was the lead author of a peer-reviewed paper with Nancy I.M. Morgan (Cane River National Heritage Area) and Brenda Barrett (NPS) that appeared in the December issue of American Anthropologist.

02/05/2007
Morgan Consults on Remote Cultural Site Monitoring, Surveillance and Risk Assessment
NCPTT
 

On May 8, 2007 NCPTT’s David W. Morgan attended the annual government-to-government consultation meeting held at Marksville, Louisiana.

06/12/2007
Morgan Co-Authors Paper
NCPTT
 

The paper focused on the archeological and social implications of the translation of historic French documents spanning 1780-1810.

01/22/2007
Morgan Attended the George Wright Society Biennial Conference on Parks Protected Areas and Cultural Sites
NCPTT
 

David Morgan attended the George Wright Society Biennial Conference on Parks, Protected Areas and Cultural Sites held in St. Paul, Minnesota from April 16-20.

06/21/2007
Morgan at UK Abolition 2007 Celebration
David Morgan in the field
 

David Morgan of NCPTT has been asked to serve as a liaison between University College London and the Louisiana Division of Archaeology in coordinating an artifact loan for an exhibit.

03/16/2007
Morgan and Simon Co-Host Advancing Remote Sensing Technology in the Discovery, Analysis, and Preservation of Cultural Resources
NCPTT
 

NCPTT’s David W. Morgan and the University of Arizona’s Arleyn Simon co-hosted a symposium at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, held April 25-29 in Austin, Texas.

06/15/2007
Morgan Accepted as ICOMOS Archeological Expert
NCPTT
 

David W. Morgan has been accepted as an Expert Member of International Council on Monuments and Sites’ International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management.

07/11/2007
More on Arrow- and Meth-Heads
Artifacts and Meth, Image Courtesy of Archaeology Magazine and BLM
 

Back in Blog 2, “Turning the Wheel…,” I was tracing the strange but true link between methamphetamines and antiquities theft. Turns out I’m not the only person with this on their mind.

03/05/2009
Mobile XRF in Museums
Caitlin O'Grady calibrates a portable XRF
 

NCPTT’s David W. Morgan participated in “Mobile XRF in Museums: Applications for Anthropology and Natural History Collections.”

07/30/2007
Midwest Archeological Center Workshop
NCPTT
 

NCPTT contributed funds to support the Midwest Archeological Center’s annual workshop on geophysical prospection.

06/26/2006
Methodology Report for a Multimedia Approach to Training Staff in Simple Book Repair (1997-26)
1997-26
 

Simple book repair was defined as those repairs meeting the following criteria: the repair could be completed in a relatively short period of time, required a relatively low level of conservation skill and experience, and could be accomplished with available tools and supplies.

12/31/1997
Merging Aerial Synthetic Aperture Radar and Satellite Multispectral Data to Inventory Archaeological Sites
NCPTT
 

PTT Grant MT-2210-05-NC-09, Merging Aerial Synthetic Aperture Radar and Satellite Multispectral Data to Inventory Archaeological Sites.

06/15/2007
Merging Aerial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Satellite Multispectral Data to Inventory Archaeological Sites
NCPTT
 

This project will devise protocols for the fusion of commercially available synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with commercially available multispectral data for the inventory of archaeological sites.

08/14/2007
Merging Aerial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Satellite Multispectral Data to Inventory Archaeological Sites (2007-11)
Fig. 3 Two-image signatures (IKONOS NDVI and high-res DEM). All sites fall within yellow areas, 25 of 26 sites fall within green areas.
 

The need is clear for rapid, wide-area, planning level inventories of archaeological sites, which are disappearing rapidly because of development and looting. Inventory makes preservation through monitoring and proactive planning possible. Successful protocols for the use of sophisticated synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technologies for such inventories in certain environments were formulated recently.

12/31/2007
Louisiana Archeology Week
NCPTT
 

On October 4, NCPTT hosted one of the statewide activities celebrating Louisiana Archaeology Week.

11/11/2007
Louisiana Archaeological Society Annual Meeting
David Morgan
 

Morgan discussed the results of his recent NEH-funded archaeological investigations at the Louisiana Archaeological Society’s annual meeting held on March 4 in Monroe.

03/23/2006
Links
NCPTT
 

Educators may find the following resources useful in teaching heritage education in the classroom.

04/17/2007
LiDAR Surveyor: A Tool for Automated Archaeological Feature Extraction from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Elevation Data (2012-07)
2012-07
 

This report presents the results of a project undertaken by the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (UI-OSA) to develop and test LiDAR Surveyor, a feature extraction model to be used with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Bare-earth Digital Elevation Models (BE DEM) to identify conical, compound and, to a lesser extent, effigy ...

11/17/2012
Lichens: The Challenge for Rock Art Conservation
NCPTT
 

Debra Elaine Dandridge, Lichens: The Challenge for Rock Art Conservation, a Ph.D. dissertation submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, Texas A&M University.

08/13/2007
KeckCAVES, Immersive 3D Visualization System for Cultural Sites (Podcast 41)
KeckCAVES 3D Visual
 

In this episode, we join NCPTT’s Jason Church as he speaks with Marshall Millet, owner of MMars 4-D. Today they are talking about Millet’s work with U.C. Davis and the KeckCAVES visualization facility.

02/15/2013
June 2007 NCPTT Archeology Workshops in GIS GPS and Ground Truthing in Natchitoches, Louisiana
NCPTT
 

NCPTT will present two workshops in June featuring high-level technology in the archeology field.

05/17/2007
Judy Bense Recommended for Interim President of University of West Florida
NCPTT
 

Dr. Judy Bense, Chair of the Preservation Technology and Training board at NCPTT, has been recommended to serve as the interim President of the University of West Florida.

06/26/2008
Investigating the Whittington and Ailhaud St Anne Sites with Ground Penetrating Radar
NCPTT
 

A Summary of Results from the 2006 and 2007 Field Seasons Bryan S. Haley Center for Archaeological Research University of Mississippi Introduction As part of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) Prospection in Depth Workshop, the University of Mississippi Center for Archaeological Research conducted a geophysical survey of the Whittington (16NA241) and Ailhaud St. Anne Site (16NA529) ...

09/25/2008
Image Recovery of Worn-Off Hallmarks on Silver and Gold Objects (2004-02)
2004-02
 

The name of the silversmith, the date of manufacture, the quality of the metal alloy, as well as other information can be determined from the study of the hallmarks.

12/31/2004
Identification of Unmarked Graves (2008-01)
Identification of Unmarked Graves (2008-01)
 

Near-surface geophysical techniques, including ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, electrical resistivity, and electromagnetic conductivity, have become primary tools in the detection of unmarked human interments.

04/15/2009
I-Sites: An Online Database and GIS for Iowa Archaeology (2003-02)
2003-02
 

I-Sites contributes to information management in historic preservation in Iowa by resolving the all-too-often-overlooked need to keep preservation-related databases current with existing and ever-growing knowledge. It empowers users to record new archaeological data, giving those who most urgently need the data an active role in keeping it current. It provides government agencies, planners, professional researchers, ...

07/14/2006
Hurricane Sandy Archeological Investigations
Fort Wadsworth Newly Exposed Granite Domed Battery
 

NCPTT Archeologist Tad Britt spent 13-23 November 2012 in the New York and New Jersey areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. Britt, temporarily based out of Ft Wadsworth, NY, conducted archeological and cultural resources inventory of the Park units affected by Hurricane Sandy. Areas inspected by Britt included: Jamaica Bay, NY, Morristown, NJ, Fire ...

03/12/2013
Hurricane Katrina and Traditional Places in Preservation Law
am-anth-journal
 

Hurricane Katrina and its massive destruction drew attention to the commonplace markers on the landscape that create sense of place for a community.

07/18/2007
Historic Resource Surveys and the Internet (1999-10)
1999-10
 

This manual teaches communities and neighborhoods how to complete their own historic resource surveys and share that information quickly.

09/22/2008
Historic Preservation Training by and for Indian Tribes: Report of a Workshop on Tribal Needs and Priorities (1996-11)
1996-11
 

A growing number of Native American tribes are establishing cultural preservation offices and museums. Among their responsibilities is preservation of archeological sites and artifacts.

09/22/2008
Hiprotect at Joshua Tree National Park (1998-18)
1998-18
 

PSTU was awarded a grant by NCPTT to install and test HIPROTECT, a prototype archaeological sitemonitoring system designed for a desert environment.

12/31/1998
High Definition Heritage Network Webinar
NCPTT
 

Approximately 90 people attended a NCPTT-funded webinar on high definition documentation in archeology on Nov. 14 and 15.

01/22/2008
High Definition Documentation of Archaeological Structures (2008-10)
3D laser used to document archeological sites
 

Existing conditions documentation of archaeological structures can be cut by 60% and can improve the accuracy and fidelity of the documentation by using scanning technology. This would optimize valuable human and financial resources for archaeologist and preservation specialist working to save our ‘Vanishing Treasures’.

12/31/2008
Heritage Values: The Past in Contemporary Society
NCPTT
 

The Southeast Archeological Center and Hamline University used funds provided by NCPTT to host a four-day workshop in November called “Heritage Values: The Past in Contemporary Society.”

01/29/2008
Heritage Values The Past in Contemporary Society
NCPTT
 

CPTT has agreed to provide partial support for the “Heritage Values: The Past in Contemporary Society” workshop proposed jointly by NPS’ Southeast Archeological Center and Hamline University.

09/15/2007
Heritage Education Archeology Workshop
NCPTT
 

NCPTT’s Heritage Education and Archeology and Collections programs are developing a workshop in conjunction with Dr. John Jameson of the NPS Southeast Archeology Center.

12/29/2006
Ground-Penetrating Radar Techniques and Three-Dimensional Computer Mapping in the American Southwest (1998-36)
1998-36
 

New techniques of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) acquisition and computer processing were tested at archaeological sites in the American Southwest and found to be highly effective in producing images of buried archaeological features.

12/31/1998
Geophysics Symposium
NCPTT
 

On April 26, 2007 NCPTT and the Archaeological Preservation Technology Research Consortium (APTRC) will host a symposium on archaeological remote sensing at the 72nd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The APTRC was created with support from NCPTT, and its mission is to foster technology-oriented collaborations between universities and federal agencies with the ...

02/01/2007
Geophysical and Laser Scan Surveys at the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site (2012-06)
2012-06
 

Geophysical and laser scan surveys were conducted at the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site (NHS), Cambridge, Massachusetts in August, 2011. This work was undertaken as part of the Archaeological Survey Technology, Data Integration, and Applications (ASTDA) Workshop. This workshop was funded by the National Center for Preservation Technology Training and supported by the Joukowsky ...

11/16/2012
Fourier Transform Raman Spectrographic Studies Of Prehistoric Rock Paintings from Big Bend (1999-14)
Fourier Transform Raman Spectrographic Studies of Prehistoric Rock Paintings from Big Bend - Document Cover
 

A resurgence of interest in prehistoric rock art has occurred recently owing to advances in analytical techniques that provide information on the composition of ancient paints and the natural man”ices surrounding the paints. The greatest problem in studying ancient rock art was the inability to affiliate the artifacts to specific cultures. which severely limited our ...

12/31/1999
Fountain Fundamentals, an Ever Evolving Conservation Collaboration
Bloch Building
 

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in partnership with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and conservator Martin Burke announces a two day conference on the conservation of fountains. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri will host the conference which includes presented papers, poster presentations, and discussion sessions on July 10-11, ...

11/27/2012
Fire and Ice: America’s Cultural Heritage Underwater (2004-19)
2004-19
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Finding and Mapping Buried Archaeological Features in the American Southwest: New Ground-penetrating Radar Techniques and Three-dimensional Computer Mapping (1998-04)
1998-04
 

New techniques of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) acquisition and computer processing were tested at buried archaeological sites in the American Southwest.

12/31/1998
Ferry of Hope: Ellis Island and US Immigration (2004-21)
2004-21
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Evolution in Project Workflow – Is High Definition Survey the Missing Link? – Brandon C. Friske
Friske
 

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Evolution in Project Workflow – Is High Definition Survey the Missing Link? There is a major shift occurring in the preservation and building industry today. It was only 30 years ago that architects and engineers where designing ...

10/18/2012
Evaluation of Remote Sensing Tools for the Estimation of Interior Wyoming Basin Cultural Landscape Attributes Using Archived Satellite Imagery and Off-the-Shelf Software
NCPTT
 

Archaeologists have been using aerial photography and satellite imagery to locate and document large, high-contrast archaeological features since inception. But, what about smaller, low-contrast features utilized by past humans such as root patches and terrace cobble deposits?

08/14/2007
Evaluation of Conservation and Preservation Practices in a Southwest Pottery Collection (2009-04)
Evaluation of Conservation and Preservation Practices in a Southwest Pottery Collection - Document Cover
 

A variety of materials and methods have been used to preserve ceramic vessels. Many have proven successful, while others are damaging. Monitoring and evaluation of past treatments is a documented research priority in the conservation field. The Arizona State Museum (ASM) has examined, recorded and analyzed the performance of past treatments on ...

12/31/2009
Evaluation and Monitoring of Culturally Appropriate Treatments for Vandalism at Rock Image Sites (2007-14)
 

This report details work done to enhance the understanding of Tribal concerns and interests regarding the conservation of rock image cultural heritage sites.  The work pertains to Tribes located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.  The study included research into past treatments at these sites and a survey of various Tribal groups to ...

09/05/2007
Evaluating Sites with Late 19th & Early 20th Century Components for Eligibility in the National Register of Historic Places: Using Turn-of-the-Century Whitewares as Economic Indicators in Assessing Collections and Developing Contexts (1996-10)
1996-10
 

Late nineteenth and early twentieth century sites are commonly encountered during archaeological surveys in the United States.

12/31/1996
Establishing an Elemental Baseline for Sourcing Shell and Shell-Tempered Artifacts in the Eastern Woodlands of North America using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS): Final Report (2009-02)
Shell samples
 

This project involved developing a new method for using the chemical content of freshwater mussel shell as a means of sourcing prehistoric, shell-tempered pottery and shell artifacts to their places of origin. By extension, this means that prehistoric trade and exchange networks can be mapped out. Because each waterway is chemically different to some extent, ...

12/31/2009
Effect of Water on Lower Pecos River Rock Paintings in Texas (1998-22)
Pecos Rock Art
 

In 1998, NCPTT partially funded a research project that involved an investigation of rock paintings in the Lower Pecos River area of Texas.  Rock Art Research, the journal of the Australian Rock Art Research Association (AURA) and the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), communicated results which were published by Elmo J. Mawk and ...

12/31/1998
Drying Waterlogged Archeological Wood Artifacts Complete
NCPTT
 

Eric Shindelholz, formerly The Mariners’ Museum, successfully concluded his grant research and submitted his final deliverables regarding his project to investigate the use of emerging technologies for drying waterlogged archeological wood artifacts.

05/10/2007
Dry Tortugas: Searching for the Windjammer Avanti (2004-22)
2004-22
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Documentation of Timbisha Shoshone Traditional Cultural Sites Using Video and GIS Technology
NCPTT Logo
 

The grant allowed for documentation of traditional language, foods, music and the cultural landscapes associated with the Timbisha Shoshone people in their aboriginal territories.

01/01/2009
Digital Videography: Recording, Preserving, and Disseminating Archaeological Data (1999-18)
Digital Videography: Recording, Preserving, and Disseminating Archaeological Data - Document Cover
 

The resulting images constitute a database for three-dimensional modeling and analysis, museum exhibits, video production, and broadcast journalism.

12/31/1999
Digital Survey Methods in Archeology (Podcast 9)
Reconstructing the Temple, Temenos and Statue of Trajan. Photo courtesy of The Portus Project.
 

Today we join NCPTT’s David Morgan as he speaks to Graeme Earl of the University of South Hampton in the UK about digital survey methods in archeology and “born digital” records. Download Episode 9 as an mp3 or subscribe via iTunes.

09/03/2009
Digital Preservation of Documents at the Library of Congress (Podcast 20)
habs
 

In this episode of the Preservation Technology Podcast, Kit Arrington, digital library specialist at the Library of Congress, discusses how the Library of Congress digitizes and shares documents online for longterm public access.

06/02/2010
Development of High-Resolution, Digital, Color and Infrared Photographic Methods for Preserving Imagery on Hopewellian Copper Artifacts (2000-22)
2000-22
 

Prehistoric Hopewellian peoples of Ohio (ca. 150 B.C. – A.D. 400) produced fine geometric and representational art that played central roles in their social organization and religious practices.

12/31/2000
Development of a Technique for Buried Site Detection Using a Down-Hole Soil Magnetic Instrument (2003-05)
Lower Lake Agassiz region of western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. Upon six test sites outlined on this map of the ancient glacial lake region, researchers from the University of Minnesota Moorhead focused their buried site detection project. (Image credit: Rinita A. Dalan and David g. Hopkins, Minnesota State University Moorhead).
 

This project has advanced a geophysical approach for identifying buried archaeological sites that combines recently developed down-hole magnetic capabilities with laboratory soil magnetic techniques. Down-hole magnetic susceptibility measurements allow the effective location of paleosols while soil magnetic studies are used to evaluate whether an associated human occupation is likely. This combined geophysical approach ...

12/31/2003
Development of a Micro-fading Tester with Near-UV Capability (2011-09)
Captoin
 

Paul Whitmore, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Art Conservation Research Center (ACRC), has developed a portable device that can be used to determine how exposure to visible light and ultraviolet (UV) rays affect the colors on a work of art, providing vital information that can be used to better preserve the artwork.

12/31/2011
Development of a Handheld Metal Tester Using Eddy Current Technology
NCPTT
 

NCPTT’s Curtis Deselles, a graduate student in the Masters of Heritage Resources program at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, is developing a handheld metal tester using eddy current technology.

08/01/2008
Development and Implementation of the Internet Accessible Infrared and Raman Users Group (IRUG) Spectral Database (2003-03)
Development and Implementation of the Internet Accessible Infrared and Raman Users Group (IRUG) Spectral Database
 

In 2003, the Infrared and Raman Users Group received NCPTT support to develop and implement an online collaborative database and bibliography of high quality infrared reference spectra. Currently, the database contains over 1250 spectra of oils, waxes, natural and synthetic resins, dyes, pigments, proteins, gums, and minerals.

12/31/2003
Development and Implementation of a Rapid Low-Cost Photogrammetric Data Archival System for Artifact and Osteological Inventory (1996-05)
Development & Implementation of a Low-Cost Photographic Data Archival System for Artifact and Osteological Inventory
 

This report discusses the feasibility and processes necessary to utilize photogrammetric techniques and photogrammetric software in order to be able to gather metric data from softcopy three-dimensional images.

12/31/1996
Designing the Lidar Mission for Industrial Heritage: Cooperation Across the Fields
Dice
 

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Designing the LiDAR Mission for Industrial Heritage: Cooperation Across the Fields Heritage managers and digital documentarians may observe the same subject, but observe it through a contrasting set of filters. The focus of this paper is to ...

12/11/2012
Delivering Archeological Information Electronically (2000-02)
2000-02
 

Like archeological information on paper, the archeological information we get in digital form must be both appropriate and trustworthy. The forms we can obtain must be the right ones for the job — cost effective and usable. At the same time, what we receive — capta, information, knowledge or summary — must be dependable, resulting ...

12/31/2000
David Morgan presents research at Southeastern Archaeological Conference
Gahagan copper hand being analyzed using pXRF
 

NCPTT staff recently presented the results of initial research on the applicability of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to copper artifact elemental composition studies at the 56th annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

12/30/2008
Creation of a Web-accessible Database of the Comparative Plant Fiber Collection (2010-02)
caption here
 

This database of micrographs of textile fibers acquired through the use of multiple microscopic techniques contains 145 collections with 1404 individual files, and requires 23GB of storage space. Each file contains a high resolution image with text fields that delineate image location and size, image collection information, microscopy technique and details of the features presented ...

10/06/2010
Creating a Digital Archive for Cultural Landscapes: Recordation of Montana’s Tongue River Valley
NCPTT
 

Montana Preservation Alliance proposes to create a digital archive of the rich cultural landscape that is the Tongue River Valley.

08/14/2007
Course on Reducing Risks to Cultural Heritage, 2011
ICCROM_logo
 

ICCROM, in conjunction with the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, will present a course on managing and reducing risks to cultural heritage. The course is designed for a maximum of 30 participants and is targeted to conservators, architects, archeologists, archivists, conservation scientists, collection managers, registrars, curators (in museums, archives, historic houses), ...

11/12/2010
Coordinate Measurement of Ships and Smallcraft (1999-06)
1999-06
 

This manual is meant to help the operator through the measurement of watercraft using the Sokkia total station. The vessels to be measured can vary in size from small boats to full sized ships.

09/22/2008
Controlled Archaeological Test Site Facility in Illinois: Training and Research in Archaeogeophysics (1999-31)
1999-31_feature image
 

A Controlled Archaeological Test Site (CATS) facility has been constructed in Champaign, Illinois, by the Cultural Resources Research Center at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, with funding provided by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. The test site will be utilized for research and training with geophysical applications ...

12/31/1999
Computerizing Arizona’s Cultural Resource Files Implementation Plan (1997-11)
1997-11
 

This report represents the “end of the beginning” of a multi-year project to computerize archaeological and historical site files for the state of Arizona.

12/31/1997
Close Range Photogrammetry vs. 3D Scanning for Archaeological Documentation
Simon
 

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Close Range Photogrammetry vs. 3D Scanning for Archaeological Documentation The proliferation of terrestrial laser scanners on the market over the past few years has been accompanied by a rapid adoption of the technology by archaeologists.  This increased archaeological use ...

11/06/2012
Church and Morgan Represent NCPTT at Louisiana Preservation Alliance
NCPTT
 

Jason Church and David W. Morgan represented NCPTT at the Louisiana Preservation Alliance annual meeting, held May 5, 2007 in Monroe, Louisiana.

05/01/2007
Assessment of Handheld Multibeam Sonar Imagery for the Study of Submerged Cultural Resources (2011-04)
Diving with Multibeam Sonar
 

The adaptation of existing imaging sonars for use on underwater sites will have widespread applicability to the nation’s thousands of submerged archaeological sites located in turbid waters that make detailed archaeological documentation impractical. LCMM has prototyped the feasibility and methodologies for this technology using a Blue View DF900-2250 Dual Frequency Miniature Multibeam Imaging System on ...

12/31/2011
Arizona Archaeological Council’s Native Americans and Archaeology Workshop (1994-02)
1994-02
 

The workshop focused on oral tradition and archeological interpretation and the role of Native Americans in archeology.

09/22/2008
Archive of Digital Data for HABS, HAER, and HALS
 

Video in Production This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Archive of Digital Data for HABS, HAER, and HALS The NPS creates a variety of documents and records, such as inventory and monitoring plans, drawings, photographs, and conservation treatment records, to assist in the planning, ...

11/06/2012
Archeology: Prospection in Depth 2008
NCPTT
 

The Presidio Trust and NCPTT have agreed to jointly promote NCPTT’s “Prospection in Depth 2008,” a workshop that focuses on cutting-edge applications of geographic information systems and geophysical technologies for identifying archeological sites and site features.

02/02/2008
Archeology Goes HD
Thousands of ruins at National Parks face severe deterioration and collapse. “Vanishing Treasures” is a grass-roots program that brings attention to these resources, and to the loss of expertise within NPS to deal with the crisis. Emerging high definition methods pioneered by CyArk are offering Vanishing Treasures personnel an edge in their documentation efforts.
 

New methods could speed archeological documentation time by 60 percent

12/01/2008
Archeological prospection workshop to be held at NCPTT May 18-22, 2009
Participant collects resistivity data
 

Current Archaeological Prospection Advances for Non-Destructive Investigations in the 21st Century. There is a registration charge of $475.00

05/12/2008
Archaeological Survey Technologies, Data, Integration, and Applications Workshop and Seminar, Longfellow House – Washington’s National Headquarters, National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA (2012-05)
2012-05
 

The Archaeological Survey Technologies, Data Integration, and Applications (ASTDA) Workshop and Seminar introduced new methods for the integration and visualization of noninvasive geophysical and 3D laser scanning survey methods as a tool for historic site preservation and management. The Workshop and Seminar were hosted at the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site in Cambridge, MA. The ...

11/16/2012
Archaeological Site Revegetation, Organochloride Based Pesticides, PCBs and Their Relationships to Resource Preservation and Protection (1998-15)
1998-15
 

Archaeological sites are being lost or significantly degraded due to natural and cultural impacts that have greatest effect upon exposed or unconsolidated surfaces.

12/31/1998
APTRC Holds Second Meeting
NCPTT
 

On April 26th, one day in advance of the Society for American Archaeology meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, NCPTT hosted the second meeting of the Archeological Preservation Technology Research Consortium.

05/30/2006
Applying Infrared Thermography for the Purpose of Identifying Concealed Wood Framing Member Type and Subsurface Anomalies with Intended Application Towards Historic Structures (2008-06)
2008-06
 

New procedures and protocols were developed relying primarily on previous studies as well as successes achieved throughout the research process. The resulting protocols as well as results are therefore in need of further refinement, however they have provided the proof of concept necessary to continue and expand research into field testing and various wall configurations.

09/22/2008
Application of Complementary Geophysical Survey Techniques in the Search for Fort Louis at Old Mobile: A Comparative Case Study (2004-20)
Caption here
 

In 2004, NCPTT supported the Friends of Mobile with funding to enable the application of two geophysical survey methods: electrical resistance and ground penetrating radar. Building on past research, a goal of the project was comparing the applicability of five remote sensing methods through ground truthing test excavations.

12/31/2004
Application of Advanced Computer Simulation and Visualization to Enhance Cultural Resources Documentation (1997-06)
1997-06
 

In the video, the hull of the Civil War warship USS Monitor is recreated digitally. It is then put in simulated physics environments where different aspects of its operation can be studied.

09/22/2007
Anna Johnson Presents NCPTT Research at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
NCPTT
 

Anna Johnson, a high-school junior at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, took NCPTT research to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, Atlanta, Ga. on May 11-16.

06/17/2008
An Evaluation of Supercritical Drying and PEG/Freeze-Drying of Waterlogged Archaeological Wood
NCPTT
 

A new preservation technique involving the use of supercritical fluids to dry waterlogged archaeological wood will be investigated and compared to current preservation treatments.

08/14/2007
An Evaluation of Supercritical Drying and PEG/Freeze Drying of Waterlogged Archaeological Wood (2007-04)
2007-04
 

This study evaluates the physical effects of drying waterlogged archaeological wood using supercritical carbon dioxide as compared to air drying and the polyethlene gylcol (PEG)/freeze drying method.

12/22/2007
An Evaluation of Archeological Applications of Mapping Grade Global Positioning Systems (1999-03)
An Evaluation of Archeological Applications of Mapping Grade Global Positioning Systems (1999-03)
 

Collecting and analyzing spatially defined data is a core component of archaeological research and has become increasingly effective with GPS, mapping and GIS hardware and software.

12/31/1999
Aerial Thermal Survey of New Philadelphia, Illinois Town Site (2009-03)
The power parachute vehicle in flight.
 

New Philadelphia, Illinois was the first town platted and legally registered by an African American in the United States. Founded by Frank McWorter, a former slave, in 1836, this town grew as a demographically integrated community through the late nineteenth century. The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) awarded funding of $14,800 to ...

12/31/2009
Advances in Computational Photograph Techniques for Cultural, Historic, and Natural History Materials
PageLines- petrography-training.jpg
 

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Advances in Computational Photograph Techniques for Cultural, Historic, and Natural History Materials This talk presents advances in robust new imaging tools from the emerging science known as Computational Photography. The common feature of the computational photography imaging ...

01/25/2013
Advanced Technology-Based Archeology Training
NCPTT
 

NCPTT has responded to the emerging need for advanced technology-based archaeology training with “Prospection in Depth,” a training series that will be held Sept. 16-20 in partnership with the Presidio Trust at the site of El Presidio de San Francisco.

08/01/2008
A Paleoclimate Reconstruction for Southwestern Texas Using Oxalate Residue from Lichen as a Paleoclimate Proxy (2000-11)
2000-11
 

A calcium oxalate rock coating is ubiquitous on limestone surfaces inside dry rock shelters and under rock overhangs within the canyons of the southwestern Edwards Plateau in southwestern Texas.

12/31/2000
A New Approach to Geophysics Pedagogy
NCPTT
 

The “Prospection in Depth” course, currently in its second iteration, offers a new approach to archaeological pedagogy, incorporating multiple geophysical techniques, hands-on equipment use, and data collection at genuine archaeological sites.

07/18/2007
A Magnetic Susceptibility Logger for Archaeological Application (2000-09)
2000-09
 

prototype instrument developed for archaeological application logs volume magnetic susceptibility down a small-diameter (ca. 2.2 cm) core-hole made with a push-tube corer. Measurements can be made rapidly, approximately 10 times faster than collecting samples either by coring or from an exposed section, to depths of 1.6 m below the surface.

10/05/2000
A Flea among Elephants: Surveillance & Preserve America
Law enforcement and cultural resource personnel work together to safeguard heritage.
 

In 2006 the White House launched Preserve America. Parallel to this, on a much tinier scale, was an event on the use of surveillance equipment for remote archaeological site surveillance. In its own humble fashion this little cog actually helps turn the enormous Preserve America wheel.

02/19/2009
A Better Picture of the Past Using New Technologies
Peacock 3
 

Can chemistry lead to better understanding of archeological objects?  Ask Dr. Evan Peacock from the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University.  With funding from NCPTT, Peacock is using an analytical technique called Laser Ablation-inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analyzing spoons made of freshwater mussel shell.  Spoons like these were used to smooth pottery ...

02/01/2011
3D Technology and the H.I. Hunley: Beyond Documentation – Christopher Watters
Watters
 

Since raising the H.L. Hunley submarine (1863) from the seabed in 2000, the project has incorporated 3D technologies including laser scanning, patterned light scanning, Vulcan point system, and computer modeling. Archaeologists developed the use of 3D technologies primarily for site plan development and artifact documentation. As the project progressed, conservators found other applications for the ...

10/18/2012
3D Scanning, Rome Reborn and Virtual Ancient Worlds on Google Earth (Podcast 16)
frischer_headshot
 

In this edition of the Preservation Technology Podcast, NCPTT’s Jeff Guin speaks with Bernard Frischer about 3D digital documentation of historic resources and the project, “Rome Reborn.”

03/30/2010
3D Digital Rock Art Documentation and Preservation Workshop (2009-05)
RTI Viewer software (Mac OSX Version)
 

Cultural Heritage Imaging developed a comprehensive training program for 3D digital rock art documentation and preservation, based on state-of-the-art computational photography techniques that are emerging as the next generation of cultural heritage tools for use both in the field and in museums.

12/31/2009
3D Digital Rock Art Documentation and Preservation (Podcast 13)
3834571403_779d65b4e9_b
 

In this edition of the Preservation Technology Podcast, we’ll meet Carla Schroer of Cultural Heritage Imaging. The non-profit organization recently used a PTT Grant to hold a workshop on 3D digital rock art documentation and preservation.

02/03/2010
3D Digital Documentation Summit
3D Digital Documentation of Mesa Verde by CyArk.
 

July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio of San Francisco, California NCPTT in conjunction with the Presidio Trust and the Friends of NCPTT will host a three day summit on digital documentation for the preservation of cultural heritage. The program features two days of contributed papers and a poster session, followed by a third day of field ...

03/01/2012
3D Data Recordation and Immersive Visualization: Considerations for Creative Mitigation Practices
MRM_NCPTT_Final_07-12
 

This poster was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. See Poster full detail and size   3D Data Recordation and Immersive Visualization: Considerations for Creative Mitigation Practices The proposed presentation approaches the potential of 3d data collection and analysis in an immersive 3d visualization system, emphasizing digital format ...

01/23/2013
2013 Summer Internships
Applications for the 2013 Summer Internship Program are due February 4.
 

It’s more than just a job… it’s your future. Get hands-on experience and build your resume while preserving the history of our country. Summer internships at NCPTT provide students and recent graduates an opportunity to undertake laboratory or field research in archeology, architecture, engineering, collections management, historic landscapes, and materials science. What do interns do? Interns work in ...

12/20/2012
2007 Southeast Cemetery Monument Conservation Workshop
St. Michaels Cemetery
 

NCPTT and the University of West Florida will host the Southeast Cemetery Monument Conservation Workshop on October 23-25 at St. Michaels Cemetery in Pensacola, Fla.

09/05/2007
$165,415 Released for the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training Grants Program
NCPTT
 

More than $165,000 will fund research to protect America’s historic legacy as part of the National Center for Preservation Technology & Training’s PTT Grants program.

07/09/2008

NameDate
LiDAR Surveyor: A Tool for Automated Archaeological Feature Extraction from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Elevation Data (2012-07)
2012-07
 

This report presents the results of a project undertaken by the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (UI-OSA) to develop and test LiDAR Surveyor, a feature extraction model to be used with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Bare-earth Digital Elevation Models (BE DEM) to identify conical, compound and, to a lesser extent, effigy ...

11/17/2012
Protecting Gullah Land and Community: A Locative Media Website for Tourism, Community Planning and Education (2012-09)
2012-09
 

In its simplest form, locative media is a portal through which location can be connected to content. By delivering content directly to a hand-held GPS-enabled device, the interpretive material has the potential to create a visitor experience that is simultaneously self-directed, has low infrastructure costs, and has minimal negative impact to the local community and their cultural landscapes. However, ...

11/16/2012
Geophysical and Laser Scan Surveys at the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site (2012-06)
2012-06
 

Geophysical and laser scan surveys were conducted at the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site (NHS), Cambridge, Massachusetts in August, 2011. This work was undertaken as part of the Archaeological Survey Technology, Data Integration, and Applications (ASTDA) Workshop. This workshop was funded by the National Center for Preservation Technology Training and supported by the Joukowsky ...

11/16/2012
Archaeological Survey Technologies, Data, Integration, and Applications Workshop and Seminar, Longfellow House – Washington’s National Headquarters, National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA (2012-05)
2012-05
 

The Archaeological Survey Technologies, Data Integration, and Applications (ASTDA) Workshop and Seminar introduced new methods for the integration and visualization of noninvasive geophysical and 3D laser scanning survey methods as a tool for historic site preservation and management. The Workshop and Seminar were hosted at the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site in Cambridge, MA. The ...

11/16/2012
New Technology, New Opportunities: Development of a National Chert Characterization Database (2012-03)
2012-03 Tulane
 

The research funded by the NCPTT grant has begun the development of a broad chert database, to provide a mechanism for comparing artifacts to known chert sources. The development and publication on the web of this database will make possible comparisons from across the country. As more XRF instruments become available at research ...

11/16/2012
Preservation of Human Dental Surface Micro-Topography with Three-Dimensional Non-Destructive Digital Imaging (2012-01)
Dental imaging
 

Human skeletal remains from archeological sites are often studied to determine historical information such as sex, age, and health, among other facts.  The information from individuals can be used to better understand a population and the culture of a past people.  With the aid of a Preservation Technology and Training Grant, Dr. Shannon Hodge at ...

02/28/2012
Assessment of Handheld Multibeam Sonar Imagery for the Study of Submerged Cultural Resources (2011-04)
Diving with Multibeam Sonar
 

The adaptation of existing imaging sonars for use on underwater sites will have widespread applicability to the nation’s thousands of submerged archaeological sites located in turbid waters that make detailed archaeological documentation impractical. LCMM has prototyped the feasibility and methodologies for this technology using a Blue View DF900-2250 Dual Frequency Miniature Multibeam Imaging System on ...

12/31/2011
Development of a Micro-fading Tester with Near-UV Capability (2011-09)
Captoin
 

Paul Whitmore, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Art Conservation Research Center (ACRC), has developed a portable device that can be used to determine how exposure to visible light and ultraviolet (UV) rays affect the colors on a work of art, providing vital information that can be used to better preserve the artwork.

12/31/2011
Creation of a Web-accessible Database of the Comparative Plant Fiber Collection (2010-02)
caption here
 

This database of micrographs of textile fibers acquired through the use of multiple microscopic techniques contains 145 collections with 1404 individual files, and requires 23GB of storage space. Each file contains a high resolution image with text fields that delineate image location and size, image collection information, microscopy technique and details of the features presented ...

10/06/2010
Aerial Thermal Survey of New Philadelphia, Illinois Town Site (2009-03)
The power parachute vehicle in flight.
 

New Philadelphia, Illinois was the first town platted and legally registered by an African American in the United States. Founded by Frank McWorter, a former slave, in 1836, this town grew as a demographically integrated community through the late nineteenth century. The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) awarded funding of $14,800 to ...

12/31/2009
3D Digital Rock Art Documentation and Preservation Workshop (2009-05)
RTI Viewer software (Mac OSX Version)
 

Cultural Heritage Imaging developed a comprehensive training program for 3D digital rock art documentation and preservation, based on state-of-the-art computational photography techniques that are emerging as the next generation of cultural heritage tools for use both in the field and in museums.

12/31/2009
Establishing an Elemental Baseline for Sourcing Shell and Shell-Tempered Artifacts in the Eastern Woodlands of North America using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS): Final Report (2009-02)
Shell samples
 

This project involved developing a new method for using the chemical content of freshwater mussel shell as a means of sourcing prehistoric, shell-tempered pottery and shell artifacts to their places of origin. By extension, this means that prehistoric trade and exchange networks can be mapped out. Because each waterway is chemically different to some extent, ...

12/31/2009
Evaluation of Conservation and Preservation Practices in a Southwest Pottery Collection (2009-04)
Evaluation of Conservation and Preservation Practices in a Southwest Pottery Collection - Document Cover
 

A variety of materials and methods have been used to preserve ceramic vessels. Many have proven successful, while others are damaging. Monitoring and evaluation of past treatments is a documented research priority in the conservation field. The Arizona State Museum (ASM) has examined, recorded and analyzed the performance of past treatments on ...

12/31/2009
Identification of Unmarked Graves (2008-01)
Identification of Unmarked Graves (2008-01)
 

Near-surface geophysical techniques, including ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, electrical resistivity, and electromagnetic conductivity, have become primary tools in the detection of unmarked human interments.

04/15/2009
High Definition Documentation of Archaeological Structures (2008-10)
3D laser used to document archeological sites
 

Existing conditions documentation of archaeological structures can be cut by 60% and can improve the accuracy and fidelity of the documentation by using scanning technology. This would optimize valuable human and financial resources for archaeologist and preservation specialist working to save our ‘Vanishing Treasures’.

12/31/2008
Coordinate Measurement of Ships and Smallcraft (1999-06)
1999-06
 

This manual is meant to help the operator through the measurement of watercraft using the Sokkia total station. The vessels to be measured can vary in size from small boats to full sized ships.

09/22/2008
Root of the Problem (1998-33)
1998-33
 

Neville Agnew of the Getty Conservation Institute speaks about the conservation of the hominid footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania. He lists three primary conservation topics that the general public will care about: Egyptology, dinosaurs, and human ancestry.

09/22/2008
Arizona Archaeological Council’s Native Americans and Archaeology Workshop (1994-02)
1994-02
 

The workshop focused on oral tradition and archeological interpretation and the role of Native Americans in archeology.

09/22/2008
Applying Infrared Thermography for the Purpose of Identifying Concealed Wood Framing Member Type and Subsurface Anomalies with Intended Application Towards Historic Structures (2008-06)
2008-06
 

New procedures and protocols were developed relying primarily on previous studies as well as successes achieved throughout the research process. The resulting protocols as well as results are therefore in need of further refinement, however they have provided the proof of concept necessary to continue and expand research into field testing and various wall configurations.

09/22/2008
Historic Resource Surveys and the Internet (1999-10)
1999-10
 

This manual teaches communities and neighborhoods how to complete their own historic resource surveys and share that information quickly.

09/22/2008
Historic Preservation Training by and for Indian Tribes: Report of a Workshop on Tribal Needs and Priorities (1996-11)
1996-11
 

A growing number of Native American tribes are establishing cultural preservation offices and museums. Among their responsibilities is preservation of archeological sites and artifacts.

09/22/2008
Merging Aerial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Satellite Multispectral Data to Inventory Archaeological Sites (2007-11)
Fig. 3 Two-image signatures (IKONOS NDVI and high-res DEM). All sites fall within yellow areas, 25 of 26 sites fall within green areas.
 

The need is clear for rapid, wide-area, planning level inventories of archaeological sites, which are disappearing rapidly because of development and looting. Inventory makes preservation through monitoring and proactive planning possible. Successful protocols for the use of sophisticated synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technologies for such inventories in certain environments were formulated recently.

12/31/2007
An Evaluation of Supercritical Drying and PEG/Freeze Drying of Waterlogged Archaeological Wood (2007-04)
2007-04
 

This study evaluates the physical effects of drying waterlogged archaeological wood using supercritical carbon dioxide as compared to air drying and the polyethlene gylcol (PEG)/freeze drying method.

12/22/2007
Video Preservation Website: Migration of Historic Video Tape to Digital Video Files (2007-13)
Video Preservation Website
 

This thorough website was built and designed as a clearinghouse of information on videotape preservation.

11/08/2007
Application of Advanced Computer Simulation and Visualization to Enhance Cultural Resources Documentation (1997-06)
1997-06
 

In the video, the hull of the Civil War warship USS Monitor is recreated digitally. It is then put in simulated physics environments where different aspects of its operation can be studied.

09/22/2007
Evaluation and Monitoring of Culturally Appropriate Treatments for Vandalism at Rock Image Sites (2007-14)
 

This report details work done to enhance the understanding of Tribal concerns and interests regarding the conservation of rock image cultural heritage sites.  The work pertains to Tribes located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.  The study included research into past treatments at these sites and a survey of various Tribal groups to ...

09/05/2007
Removal of Arsenic and Mercury Contamination in Museums using a Natural Environmentally Benign Chemical (2006-02)
2006-02
 

Some natural science specimens and ethnographic artifacts in museums were historically treated with arsenic and mercury salts. This has created an environmental concern for museum workers and the public who may be exposed to these toxins. In addition, museums are frequently being asked to return sacred objects under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation ...

12/31/2006
Testing the Regional Reliability of Spectral Signatures of Archaeological Phenomena (2006-01)
Testing the Regional Reliability of Spectral Signatures of Archaeological Phenomena
 

The research reported herein focuses on developing and testing predictive models based on the satellite remote-sensing (SRS) of prehistoric and historic archaeological phenomena. With advances in the resolution of satellite-borne imagery, such as IKONOS, and the availability of software designed to process such imagery, such as ENVI, archaeological predictive modeling is positioned to progress beyond ...

12/31/2006
I-Sites: An Online Database and GIS for Iowa Archaeology (2003-02)
2003-02
 

I-Sites contributes to information management in historic preservation in Iowa by resolving the all-too-often-overlooked need to keep preservation-related databases current with existing and ever-growing knowledge. It empowers users to record new archaeological data, giving those who most urgently need the data an active role in keeping it current. It provides government agencies, planners, professional researchers, ...

07/14/2006
Fire and Ice: America’s Cultural Heritage Underwater (2004-19)
2004-19
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Shipwreck: America’s Underwater Heritage (2004-18)
2004-18
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Application of Complementary Geophysical Survey Techniques in the Search for Fort Louis at Old Mobile: A Comparative Case Study (2004-20)
Caption here
 

In 2004, NCPTT supported the Friends of Mobile with funding to enable the application of two geophysical survey methods: electrical resistance and ground penetrating radar. Building on past research, a goal of the project was comparing the applicability of five remote sensing methods through ground truthing test excavations.

12/31/2004
Image Recovery of Worn-Off Hallmarks on Silver and Gold Objects (2004-02)
2004-02
 

The name of the silversmith, the date of manufacture, the quality of the metal alloy, as well as other information can be determined from the study of the hallmarks.

12/31/2004
Secret of Lake Meade: America’s Cultural Heritage Underwater (2004-17)
2004-17
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
USS Arizona: Preserving a War Memorial (2004-23)
2004-23
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Dry Tortugas: Searching for the Windjammer Avanti (2004-22)
2004-22
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Ferry of Hope: Ellis Island and US Immigration (2004-21)
2004-21
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Development of a Technique for Buried Site Detection Using a Down-Hole Soil Magnetic Instrument (2003-05)
Lower Lake Agassiz region of western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. Upon six test sites outlined on this map of the ancient glacial lake region, researchers from the University of Minnesota Moorhead focused their buried site detection project. (Image credit: Rinita A. Dalan and David g. Hopkins, Minnesota State University Moorhead).
 

This project has advanced a geophysical approach for identifying buried archaeological sites that combines recently developed down-hole magnetic capabilities with laboratory soil magnetic techniques. Down-hole magnetic susceptibility measurements allow the effective location of paleosols while soil magnetic studies are used to evaluate whether an associated human occupation is likely. This combined geophysical approach ...

12/31/2003
Development and Implementation of the Internet Accessible Infrared and Raman Users Group (IRUG) Spectral Database (2003-03)
Development and Implementation of the Internet Accessible Infrared and Raman Users Group (IRUG) Spectral Database
 

In 2003, the Infrared and Raman Users Group received NCPTT support to develop and implement an online collaborative database and bibliography of high quality infrared reference spectra. Currently, the database contains over 1250 spectra of oils, waxes, natural and synthetic resins, dyes, pigments, proteins, gums, and minerals.

12/31/2003
Priorities for Natural History Collections Conservation Research: Results of a Survey of the SPNHC Membership (2001-02)
Priorities for Natural History Collections Conservation Research: Results of a Survey of the SPNHC Membership - Document Cover
 

The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) is a multidisciplinary international organization composed of individuals and institutions who are interested in the development and preservation of natural history collections. Under the direction of the SPNHC Conservation Committee and its Research Subcommittee, the project coordinator surveyed the SPNHC membership by mail to develop ...

12/31/2001
Development of High-Resolution, Digital, Color and Infrared Photographic Methods for Preserving Imagery on Hopewellian Copper Artifacts (2000-22)
2000-22
 

Prehistoric Hopewellian peoples of Ohio (ca. 150 B.C. – A.D. 400) produced fine geometric and representational art that played central roles in their social organization and religious practices.

12/31/2000
U.S. Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage Beyond the Territorial Sea: Problems and Prospects (2000-23)
4994104027_6893f5867f_b
 

U.S. treatment of underwater cultural heritage beyond the territorial sea is analysed in light of Law of the Sea principles and the UNESCO Draft Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. Article published in 2000.

12/31/2000
Use of Remote Sensing to Evaluate and Monitor the Condition of Prehistoric Earthen Structures (2000-14)
2000-14
 

The intent of the proposed research was to use historic aerial photographs to evaluate the effectiveness of using them as a data source to detect and document change in prehistoric earthen structures through time. There was some reason to believe that photogrammetric methods could serve as a basis for detecting changes in such archaeological remains, ...

12/31/2000
Proposal to Reduce the Exposure to Light of Museum Objects Without Reducing Illuminance (2000-10)
Christopher Cuttle works with the Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to explore museum lighting options.  This image by Stuck in Customs on Flickr.
 

“Many types of museum exhibits are susceptible to damage caused by exposure to light, and current recommendations for museum lighting include avoidance of nonvisible radiant power (UV and IR), limitation of illumination level, and restriction of exposure duration. This article investigates the notion that the visual satisfaction provided by incandescent sources could be matched with significantly ...

12/31/2000
The North American Database and Website of Archaeological Geophysics (NADAG) (2000-21)
The North American Database and Website of Archaeological Geophysics - Screenshot
 

“The North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics (NADAG) is a database and website under continuous development that aims to promote use, education, communication, and a knowledge base of the practice of archaeological geophysics in North America.   It is maintained by the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas at: www.cast.uark.edu/nadag.”  (Excerpted ...

12/31/2000
Delivering Archeological Information Electronically (2000-02)
2000-02
 

Like archeological information on paper, the archeological information we get in digital form must be both appropriate and trustworthy. The forms we can obtain must be the right ones for the job — cost effective and usable. At the same time, what we receive — capta, information, knowledge or summary — must be dependable, resulting ...

12/31/2000
A Paleoclimate Reconstruction for Southwestern Texas Using Oxalate Residue from Lichen as a Paleoclimate Proxy (2000-11)
2000-11
 

A calcium oxalate rock coating is ubiquitous on limestone surfaces inside dry rock shelters and under rock overhangs within the canyons of the southwestern Edwards Plateau in southwestern Texas.

12/31/2000
A Magnetic Susceptibility Logger for Archaeological Application (2000-09)
2000-09
 

prototype instrument developed for archaeological application logs volume magnetic susceptibility down a small-diameter (ca. 2.2 cm) core-hole made with a push-tube corer. Measurements can be made rapidly, approximately 10 times faster than collecting samples either by coring or from an exposed section, to depths of 1.6 m below the surface.

10/05/2000
Digital Videography: Recording, Preserving, and Disseminating Archaeological Data (1999-18)
Digital Videography: Recording, Preserving, and Disseminating Archaeological Data - Document Cover
 

The resulting images constitute a database for three-dimensional modeling and analysis, museum exhibits, video production, and broadcast journalism.

12/31/1999
Fourier Transform Raman Spectrographic Studies Of Prehistoric Rock Paintings from Big Bend (1999-14)
Fourier Transform Raman Spectrographic Studies of Prehistoric Rock Paintings from Big Bend - Document Cover
 

A resurgence of interest in prehistoric rock art has occurred recently owing to advances in analytical techniques that provide information on the composition of ancient paints and the natural man”ices surrounding the paints. The greatest problem in studying ancient rock art was the inability to affiliate the artifacts to specific cultures. which severely limited our ...

12/31/1999
Controlled Archaeological Test Site Facility in Illinois: Training and Research in Archaeogeophysics (1999-31)
1999-31_feature image
 

A Controlled Archaeological Test Site (CATS) facility has been constructed in Champaign, Illinois, by the Cultural Resources Research Center at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, with funding provided by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. The test site will be utilized for research and training with geophysical applications ...

12/31/1999
Nature of a Whewellite-Rich Rock Crust Associated with Pictographs in Southwest Texas (1999-17)
1999-17
 

A whewellite-rich rock crust covers vast areas of limestone inside dry rock shelters and under rock overhangs throughout the Lower Pecos Region in southwestern Texas (USA).

12/31/1999
An Evaluation of Archeological Applications of Mapping Grade Global Positioning Systems (1999-03)
An Evaluation of Archeological Applications of Mapping Grade Global Positioning Systems (1999-03)
 

Collecting and analyzing spatially defined data is a core component of archaeological research and has become increasingly effective with GPS, mapping and GIS hardware and software.

12/31/1999
Effect of Water on Lower Pecos River Rock Paintings in Texas (1998-22)
Pecos Rock Art
 

In 1998, NCPTT partially funded a research project that involved an investigation of rock paintings in the Lower Pecos River area of Texas.  Rock Art Research, the journal of the Australian Rock Art Research Association (AURA) and the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), communicated results which were published by Elmo J. Mawk and ...

12/31/1998
Archaeological Site Revegetation, Organochloride Based Pesticides, PCBs and Their Relationships to Resource Preservation and Protection (1998-15)
1998-15
 

Archaeological sites are being lost or significantly degraded due to natural and cultural impacts that have greatest effect upon exposed or unconsolidated surfaces.

12/31/1998
Museum Lighting Protocols (1998-31)
1998-31
 

Museum conservators and the like are well acquainted with the fact that some types of museum exhibits are susceptible to damage caused by exposure to light.

12/31/1998
Hiprotect at Joshua Tree National Park (1998-18)
1998-18
 

PSTU was awarded a grant by NCPTT to install and test HIPROTECT, a prototype archaeological sitemonitoring system designed for a desert environment.

12/31/1998
Ground-Penetrating Radar Techniques and Three-Dimensional Computer Mapping in the American Southwest (1998-36)
1998-36
 

New techniques of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) acquisition and computer processing were tested at archaeological sites in the American Southwest and found to be highly effective in producing images of buried archaeological features.

12/31/1998
Finding and Mapping Buried Archaeological Features in the American Southwest: New Ground-penetrating Radar Techniques and Three-dimensional Computer Mapping (1998-04)
1998-04
 

New techniques of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) acquisition and computer processing were tested at buried archaeological sites in the American Southwest.

12/31/1998
Plasma extraction and AMS 14C dating of rock paintings (1997-14)
1997-14
 

We developed a plasma-chemical technique to remove carbon from rock paintings. This extraction is followed by accelerator mass spectrometric analysis of the 14C to yield direct estimates of the ages of rock paintings. We have demonstrated use of the technique on charcoal as well as iron and manganese pigmented paintings. Unfortunately, there are no rock paintings made ...

12/31/1997
Computerizing Arizona’s Cultural Resource Files Implementation Plan (1997-11)
1997-11
 

This report represents the “end of the beginning” of a multi-year project to computerize archaeological and historical site files for the state of Arizona.

12/31/1997
Methodology Report for a Multimedia Approach to Training Staff in Simple Book Repair (1997-26)
1997-26
 

Simple book repair was defined as those repairs meeting the following criteria: the repair could be completed in a relatively short period of time, required a relatively low level of conservation skill and experience, and could be accomplished with available tools and supplies.

12/31/1997
Rock-art Image in Fern Cave, Lava Beds National Monument, California: not the AD 1054 (Crab Nebula) supernova (1997-13)
An absolute dating contradicts that supposition in respect of a presumed image of the visible supernova of AD 1054.
 

The visual manifestation of the recent Hale-Bopp comet reminds us how telling are those rare objects which suddenly flare in the sky. One can suppose ancient people living by natural light were more compellingly struck by the sight of comets and supernovae, and understandably researchers seek images of them in the shapes of rock-art motifs. ...

12/31/1997
Development and Implementation of a Rapid Low-Cost Photogrammetric Data Archival System for Artifact and Osteological Inventory (1996-05)
Development & Implementation of a Low-Cost Photographic Data Archival System for Artifact and Osteological Inventory
 

This report discusses the feasibility and processes necessary to utilize photogrammetric techniques and photogrammetric software in order to be able to gather metric data from softcopy three-dimensional images.

12/31/1996
Origin of Whewellite-Rich Rock Crust in the Lower Pecos Region of Southwest Texas and its Significance to Paleoclimate Reconstructions (1996-03)
Origin of Whewellite-Rich Rock Crust in the Lower Pecos Region of Southwest Texas and its Significance to Paleoclimate Reconstructions - Document Cover
 

A calcium oxalate (whewellite)-rich crust occurs on exposed limestone surfaces in dry rock and open air shelters in the Lower Pecos region of southwest Texas.

12/31/1996
Evaluating Sites with Late 19th & Early 20th Century Components for Eligibility in the National Register of Historic Places: Using Turn-of-the-Century Whitewares as Economic Indicators in Assessing Collections and Developing Contexts (1996-10)
1996-10
 

Late nineteenth and early twentieth century sites are commonly encountered during archaeological surveys in the United States.

12/31/1996
Readings in Site Discovery and Site Evaluation (1995-14)
1995-14
 

This publication contains a number of readings that aid in the decision-making process involved with the discovery and evaluation of archeological sites.

12/31/1995

NameDate
Advances in Computational Photograph Techniques for Cultural, Historic, and Natural History Materials
PageLines- petrography-training.jpg
 

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Advances in Computational Photograph Techniques for Cultural, Historic, and Natural History Materials This talk presents advances in robust new imaging tools from the emerging science known as Computational Photography. The common feature of the computational photography imaging ...

01/25/2013
Designing the Lidar Mission for Industrial Heritage: Cooperation Across the Fields
Dice
 

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Designing the LiDAR Mission for Industrial Heritage: Cooperation Across the Fields Heritage managers and digital documentarians may observe the same subject, but observe it through a contrasting set of filters. The focus of this paper is to ...

12/11/2012
Rocket Science and 3D Analyses in the Preservation of Artistic and Historic Works
john_asmus
 

This presentation was presented as the keynote address for the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012, Presidio, San Francisco, CA.   Rocket Science and 3D Analyses in the Preservation of Artistic and Historic Works More than sixty years ago development began on the nuclear-propelled ORION Spaceship destined for a manned mission to the planet Saturn. This ...

10/29/2012
Evolution in Project Workflow – Is High Definition Survey the Missing Link? – Brandon C. Friske
Friske
 

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Evolution in Project Workflow – Is High Definition Survey the Missing Link? There is a major shift occurring in the preservation and building industry today. It was only 30 years ago that architects and engineers where designing ...

10/18/2012
3D Technology and the H.I. Hunley: Beyond Documentation – Christopher Watters
Watters
 

Since raising the H.L. Hunley submarine (1863) from the seabed in 2000, the project has incorporated 3D technologies including laser scanning, patterned light scanning, Vulcan point system, and computer modeling. Archaeologists developed the use of 3D technologies primarily for site plan development and artifact documentation. As the project progressed, conservators found other applications for the ...

10/18/2012
Prospection in Depth 2009 Limited Seating Still Available for Geophysics Workshop
Prospection in Depth 2009
 

David Morgan, Chief of Archeology and Collections at the National Park Service National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, talks about the annual geophysics workshop course that we call Prospection in Depth Limited seating is still available for this five day course at the Presidio in San Francisco from August 4-8, 2009. The tuition of $499 ...

07/01/2009
Root of the Problem (1998-33)
1998-33
 

Neville Agnew of the Getty Conservation Institute speaks about the conservation of the hominid footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania. He lists three primary conservation topics that the general public will care about: Egyptology, dinosaurs, and human ancestry.

09/22/2008
Application of Advanced Computer Simulation and Visualization to Enhance Cultural Resources Documentation (1997-06)
1997-06
 

In the video, the hull of the Civil War warship USS Monitor is recreated digitally. It is then put in simulated physics environments where different aspects of its operation can be studied.

09/22/2007
Fire and Ice: America’s Cultural Heritage Underwater (2004-19)
2004-19
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Shipwreck: America’s Underwater Heritage (2004-18)
2004-18
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Secret of Lake Meade: America’s Cultural Heritage Underwater (2004-17)
2004-17
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
USS Arizona: Preserving a War Memorial (2004-23)
2004-23
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Dry Tortugas: Searching for the Windjammer Avanti (2004-22)
2004-22
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004
Ferry of Hope: Ellis Island and US Immigration (2004-21)
2004-21
 

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

12/31/2004

 

2 Responses to Archeology & Collections

  1. G.R. Giesler says:

    Need to talk to your group about preservation of the only original prints for the
    Balldwin Locomootive Company we have had for over 45 years and now desire to
    move over to someone who would preserve them.

  2. Tad Britt says:

    Please call me at 318-356-7444 to discuss further. Thanks, Tad

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>