Computerization of the Caribbean Archaeological Collections of the Peabody Museum of Natural History

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，耶鲁大学皮博迪自然历史博物馆将把与加勒比海考古收藏有关的记录电脑化。这些材料现在在大约135,000个手写装订分类账目录条目下进行了描述，这使得研究人员很难找到具体的项目或材料组。在两年的时间里，博物馆专业人员将把这些数据输入到一个关系数据库系统中。因此，这些藏品将很容易地提供给希望与它们合作的考古学家。皮博迪的加勒比考古藏品是无与伦比的。这些材料是在西印度群岛以及委内瑞拉和圭亚那沿海大陆进行了60年系统科学研究的结果。它是在1933年成立的加勒比人类学项目的主持下通过研究挖掘出来的。这些数据使研究人员不仅可以建立年表，还可以追踪迁移和扩散。这些材料也可以用来重建环境、文化过程和社会动态。因此，它们构成了宝贵的科学数据库。这个项目很重要，因为目前这些信息非常难以使用。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，它将随时可供科学研究使用。

With National Science Foundation support, the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University will computerize the records which relate to its Caribbean archaeological collections. These materials are now described under ca. 135,000 catalogue entries in handwritten bound ledgers and this makes it extremely difficult for researchers to locate either specific items or groups of materials. Over a two year period museum professionals will enter these data into a relational database system. As a result, the collections will be made easily available to archaeologists who wish to work with them The Peabody's Caribbean archaeological collections are unparalled. The material is the result of sixty years of systematic scientific research in the islands of the West Indies and the coastal mainland of Venezuela and the Guianas. It was excavated through research conducted under the auspices of the Caribbean Anthropological program which was founded in 1933. These data allow researchers not only to establish chronologies but also to trace migration and diffusion. The materials can also be used to reconstruct environment, cultural process and social dynamics. They therefore constitute a valuable scientific data base. This project is important because at the present time this information is extremely difficult to use. With NSF support it will be made readily available for scientific research.