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

由阿肯色大学先进空间技术中心（CAST）和达特茅斯大学空间考古实验室（SPARCL）的教师领导的空间考古研究合作项目（SPARC）致力于促进地理空间技术在考古研究中的应用。一系列新兴技术，包括航空和卫星成像、大阵列陆地地球物理、基于多传感器无人机的测绘和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，仪器和软件的高成本以及这些技术所需的专业知识为研究人员创造了巨大的障碍，阻碍了它们广泛融入考古调查。通过竞争性的、同行评议的申请程序，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，SPARC项目试图弥合这些资金和专业知识的差距。SPARC提供了一个经过验证的模型，使各种专业技能和技术的使用民主化，这些技能和技术共同改变了考古研究。此外，SPARC计划在推进教育和推广活动方面发挥着重要作用，通过课堂编程和教学教程，在全国会议上的面对面研讨会，开放访问的在线网络研讨会以及达特茅斯或阿肯色大学的研究驻留。SPARC项目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，特别是为历史上代表性不足的学者、早期职业研究人员以及资源较少或少数族裔服务机构的学者。近年来，随着传统考古调查模式面临越来越大的挑战，新兴地理空间技术在考古研究中的创新应用越来越重要。地缘政治和冲突使得在世界上许多地方进行实地考察变得不可能，对土著、后代和其他利益相关者群体的担忧引发了传统考古发掘的伦理问题，当代的资金状况往往抑制了大规模、长期的实地考察，而这种实地考察一直是几代人考古实践的支柱。空间考古学提供了以新的方式探索考古记录的能力，使用非侵入性、非破坏性和易于复制的方法和方法，同时也产生了传统调查模式无法实现的强大见解。此外，技术专家与考古学家的密切合作有助于促进技术和方法的创新，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。考古学家在世界许多不同地区工作，关注广泛的时期。sparc支助的项目（主要是空间考古研究的试点研究）经常产生变革性的结果，这些结果往往是长期调查和持续合作的基础。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.