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

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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.