Collaborative Research: SPARC: Conducting Collaborative Research and Leveraging Resources to Advance Spatial Archaeometry

空间考古研究合作(SPARC)计划由阿肯色大学高级空间技术中心(CAST)和达特茅斯空间考古实验室(SPARCL)的教师领导，致力于促进地理空间技术在考古研究中的使用。一系列新兴技术，包括航空和卫星成像、大阵列地球物理、基于多传感器无人机的地图绘制和3D可视化，正在迅速改变考古学家发现、记录和解释人类过去的方式。然而，仪器和软件的高昂成本，再加上这些技术所需的技术专长，给研究人员带来了巨大的障碍，使其无法广泛融入考古调查。SPARC项目旨在通过竞争性、同行评审的申请程序，为考古研究项目提供CAST和SPARCL的设备、软件和经验丰富的工作人员，从而弥合这些资金和专业知识的差距。SPARC提供了一种成熟的模式，使获得各种专业技能和技术的机会民主化，这些技能和技术共同改变了考古研究。此外，SPARC计划通过课堂规划和教学教程、全国会议的面对面研讨会、开放式在线在线研讨会以及达特茅斯大学或阿肯色大学的研究派驻，在推动教育和外展活动方面发挥了重要作用。SPARC计划还通过扩大获得技术的机会来支持多样性、公平和包容性倡议，特别是对于历史上代表性不足的学者、职业生涯早期研究人员以及资源较少或少数族裔服务机构(MSI)的学者。近年来，随着传统的考古调查模式面临越来越多的挑战，新兴地理空间技术在考古研究中的创新应用变得越来越重要。地缘政治和冲突使世界许多地区的田野工作变得不可能，对土著、后裔和其他利益相关者社区的担忧引发了传统考古挖掘的伦理问题，当代的资金状况往往阻碍了几代人以来一直是考古实践支柱的那种大规模、长期的田野工作。空间考古学提供了以新的方式探索考古记录的能力，使用的方法和方法是非侵入性、非破坏性和易于复制的，但也产生了传统调查模式无法实现的强大洞察力。此外，技术专家与在世界许多不同地区工作的考古学家密切合作，侧重于广泛的时期，有助于促进技术和方法创新，因为研究人员共同努力，为数据收集和分析中的挑战性问题制定创造性的解决方案。通过SPARC支持的项目产生的频繁的变革性结果，主要是空间考古研究的试点研究，通常是长期调查和持续合作的基础。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Spatial Archaeometry Research Collaborations (SPARC) Program, led by faculty at the University of Arkansas’ Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST) and Dartmouth’s Spatial Archaeometry Lab (SPARCL), work to promote the use of geospatial technologies in archaeological research. A suite of emerging technologies, including aerial and satellite imaging, large-array terrestrial geophysics, multi-sensor drone-based mapping, and 3D visualization are rapidly transforming how archaeologists discover, document, and interpret the human past. However, the high costs of instrumentation and software combined with the technical expertise these technologies require create significant hurdles for researchers, preventing their widespread integration into archaeological investigations. The SPARC program seeks to bridge these funding and expertise gaps by making the equipment, software, and experienced staff at CAST and SPARCL available to archaeological research projects through a competitive, peer-reviewed application process. SPARC provides a proven model for democratizing access to a variety of specialist skills and technologies that collectively are transforming archaeological research. In addition, the SPARC program plays an important role in advancing educational and outreach initiatives through classroom programming and instructional tutorials, in-person workshops at national conferences, open-access online webinars, and research residencies at Dartmouth or University of Arkansas. The SPARC program also supports diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by expanding access to technologies, particularly for historically underrepresented scholars, early career researchers, and scholars at less well-resourced or minority serving institutions (MSIs). The innovative application of emerging geospatial technologies in archaeological research has assumed an ever-growing importance in recent years, as conventional modes of archaeological investigation face increasing challenges. Geopolitics and conflict make fieldwork in many parts of the world impossible, concerns for Indigenous, descendant, and other stakeholder communities raise ethical issues with traditional archaeological excavations, and the contemporary funding landscape often inhibits the sorts of large-scale, long-term fieldwork that has been a mainstay of archaeological practice for generations. Spatial archaeometry offers the ability to explore the archaeological record in new ways, using methods and approaches that are non-invasive, non-destructive, and easily replicable, yet also produce robust insights not achievable through traditional modes of investigation. Moreover, the close collaboration of technical experts with archaeologists working in many different world regions and focusing on a wide range of periods helps to facilitate technological and methodological innovation, as researchers work together to develop creative solutions to challenging problems in data collection and analysis. The frequently transformative results produced through SPARC-supported projects, essentially pilot studies in spatial archaeometric research, are often the basis for longer-term investigations and ongoing collaborations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.