Computerization of the Caribbean Archaeological Collections of the Peabody Museum of Natural History

在国家科学基金会的支持下，耶鲁大学皮博迪自然历史博物馆将把与其加勒比海考古收藏品有关的记录计算机化。这些材料现在被描述在手写装订分类账中的约135,000个目录条目下，这使得研究人员极难找到特定的项目或材料组。在两年的时间里，博物馆专业人员将把这些数据输入到关系数据库系统中。因此，希望与之合作的考古学家可以很容易地获得这些收藏品，皮博迪加勒比地区的考古收藏品是无与伦比的。这些材料是在西印度群岛岛屿、委内瑞拉沿海大陆和圭亚那进行了60年系统科学研究的结果。它是在1933年成立的加勒比人类学项目的主持下进行的研究中挖掘出来的。这些数据使研究人员不仅可以建立年表，还可以追踪迁徙和扩散。这些材料还可以用来重建环境、文化过程和社会动态。因此，它们构成了一个宝贵的科学数据库。这个项目很重要，因为目前这方面的信息很难使用。在NSF的支持下，它将随时可用于科学研究。

With National Science Foundation support, the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University will computerize the records which relate to its Caribbean archaeological collections. These materials are now described under ca. 135,000 catalogue entries in handwritten bound ledgers and this makes it extremely difficult for researchers to locate either specific items or groups of materials. Over a two year period museum professionals will enter these data into a relational database system. As a result, the collections will be made easily available to archaeologists who wish to work with them The Peabody's Caribbean archaeological collections are unparalled. The material is the result of sixty years of systematic scientific research in the islands of the West Indies and the coastal mainland of Venezuela and the Guianas. It was excavated through research conducted under the auspices of the Caribbean Anthropological program which was founded in 1933. These data allow researchers not only to establish chronologies but also to trace migration and diffusion. The materials can also be used to reconstruct environment, cultural process and social dynamics. They therefore constitute a valuable scientific data base. This project is important because at the present time this information is extremely difficult to use. With NSF support it will be made readily available for scientific research.