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

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，阿肯色州大学先进空间技术中心（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下一代3D测量、分析和遥感技术。该项目将侧重于CAST和AIL的三个主要领域：1）基于现场的考古物理学和测绘，2）三维扫描，摄影测量，可视化和形态测量学;和3）航空和卫星遥感，区域调查和测绘。数字技术的日益普及和复杂性，特别是在地理空间领域，已经开始深刻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--从文物到遗址再到景观--几乎都有空间的成分，空间被视为考古学研究的中心维度之一。地理空间技术的能力，以加强发现和解释这些功能不仅提供了新的数据，但创造了全新的方式与考古记录。例如，高分辨率卫星图像使人们能够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界限，并以前所未有的规模探索古代政体。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，详细的计划，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三维记录文物和建筑的新方法，并实现了从小物体到大遗址的多尺度形态测量分析。目前，相对较少的个人甚至机构拥有将地理信息学有效整合到考古研究中所需的设备、技术技能和考古敏锐度。虽然克服这一限制的一个明显方法是与具有互补知识的多个人合作，但这并不能保证成功。有大量的记录表明，技术专家与考古研究项目合作，但技术专家缺乏对考古要求的理解和/或考古学家缺乏技术经验，从而错过了机会。 在过去的二十年里，CAST和AIL在NSF和其他机构的早期支持下，通过地理信息专家和考古学家之间的合作，稳步投资于地理空间技术的能力（设备和软件，分析实践，人员和专业知识）的发展及其在考古研究中的部署。如今，CAST和AIL是地理空间研究领域的全球领导者，涉及各种学科和应用，被广泛认为是将这些技术应用于考古学的最佳场所之一。该项目将使这些方法的应用扩展到对过去的研究成为可能，这将对该领域产生重大影响。该项目将由CAST主任杰克逊科奇博士和合作PI-博士杰西卡萨纳，戴夫弗雷德里克，肯Kvamme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.