Expanding Collaborative Opportunities for Research in Archaeo-Geomatics and Archaeo-Geophysics at CAST/AIL

在国家科学基金会的支持下，阿肯色大学高级空间技术中心(CAST)和考古成像实验室(AIL)将为世界各地的考古研究项目提供新一代3D测量、分析和遥感技术。该项目将专注于CAST和AIL现有的三个主要专业领域：1)基于现场的考古地球物理和测绘；2)三维扫描、摄影测量、可视化和形态测量；以及3)航空和卫星遥感、区域测量和测绘。数字技术的日益普及和日益成熟，特别是在地理空间领域，已经开始深刻地影响考古学家和其他学者的工作方式。考古学家研究的东西--从文物到遗址再到风景--几乎总是有空间成分，而空间被视为考古学研究的中心维度之一。地理空间技术加强对这些特征的发现和解释的能力不仅提供了新的数据，而且创造了处理考古记录的全新手段。例如，高分辨率的卫星图像使人们有可能在广阔的地形上定位和绘制考古特征，使调查能够跨越现代文化和政治边界，以前所未有的规模探索古代政治。地下地球物理调查可以记录埋藏的考古遗迹，揭示整个社区的完整、详细的平面图，为社区组织和过去的建筑环境提供新的见解。激光扫描和摄影测量建模技术提供了记录三维文物和建筑的新方法，并使从小物体到大遗址的多个尺度的形态测量分析成为可能。目前，相对较少的个人甚至机构拥有将大地测量学有效地整合到考古学研究中所需的设备、技术技能和考古敏锐度。虽然克服这一限制的一个明显的方法是让多个拥有互补知识的人合作，但这并不能保证成功。技术专家与考古研究项目合作，但技术专家对考古要求缺乏了解和/或考古学家缺乏技术经验，错失机会的记录很多。在过去二十年中，CAST和AIL在国家科学基金会和其他机构的早期支持下，通过地球测量学专家和考古学家之间的合作，稳步投资于发展地理空间技术的能力(设备和软件、分析做法、工作人员和专门知识)，并将其部署在考古研究中。今天，CAST和AIL是跨各种学科和应用的地理空间研究的全球领导者，被广泛认为是将这些技术应用于考古学的最佳地点之一。这一项目将使这些方法在过去研究中的应用范围扩大，这将对该领域产生重大影响。该项目将由演员阵容总监杰克逊·科瑟恩博士和联合PIS-杰西·卡萨纳博士、戴夫·弗雷德里克博士、肯·克文姆博士和弗雷德·林普领导。

With National Science Foundation support the University of Arkansas' Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST) and the Archaeo-Imaging Laboratory (AIL) will provide next-generation 3D measurement, analysis and remote sensing technologies to archaeological research projects around the world. The project will focus on three primary areas of CAST and AIL's established expertise: 1) site-based archaeo-geophysics and mapping, 2) three-dimensional scanning, photogrammetry, visualization, and morphometrics; and 3) aerial and satellite remote sensing, regional survey, and mapping. The growing availability and sophistication of digital technologies, particularly in the geospatial domain, has begun to profoundly affect how archaeologists and other scholars work. The things archaeologists study - from artifacts to sites to landscapes - almost always have a spatial component, and space is viewed as one of the central dimensions of archeological study. The capabilities of geospatial technologies to enhance discovery and interpretation of these features not only offers new data, but creates entirely novel means of engaging with the archaeological record. For example, high-resolution satellite imagery makes it possible to locate and map archaeological features across vast expanses of terrain, enabling investigations to cross modern cultural and political boundaries and explore ancient polities at scales never before possible. Subsurface geophysical investigations allow buried archaeological remains to be documented revealing complete, detailed plans of entire communities offering new insights into community organization and past built environments. Laser scanning and photogrammetric modeling techniques present new ways of recording artifacts and architecture in three dimensions and enable morphometric analysis at multiple scales - from small objects to large sites.Currently, relatively few individuals or even institutions have the combination of equipment, technical skills, and archaeological acumen needed to integrate geomatics effectively into archeological research. While an obvious approach to overcoming this limitation is to partner multiple individuals with complementary knowledge, it does not guarantee success. There is an extensive record of missed opportunities where a technical specialist partnered with an archeological research project but there was a lack of understanding of the archaeological requirements by the technical specialist and/or a lack of experience with the technology by the archaeologist. Over the past two decades, CAST) and AIL, with earlier support from NSF and others, have steadily invested in the development of capacities (equipment and software, analytical practices, staff, and expertise) in geospatial technologies and their deployment in archaeological research through collaborations between geomatics specialists and archaeologists. Today, CAST and AIL are global leaders in geospatial research across a variety of disciplines and applications, and are widely regarded as among the best places for the application of these technologies in archaeology. The expansion of the application of these methods to the study of the past that will be made possible by this project will have a significant effect on the field. The project will be lead by CAST Director Dr. Jackson Cothren and Co-PIs - Drs. Jesse Casana, Dave Fredrick, Ken Kvamme and Fred Limp.