Preservation and Collaboration: Going Digital in Archaeology

Abstract

Academic databases are perhaps only the beginning for archeology's foray into the digital age. Digital and interactive repositories of information will aid in the dissemination of new knowledge more rapidly than before, and to wider audiences. 3D scanning and mapping techniques, along with more portable and powerful analytical tools, are speeding up the post-excavation cataloging of finds. Collaborative and critical communities may soon have the ability to form, produce work, and disband quite rapidly, once the digital infrastructure is completely in place. At this point, digital archaeology is experiencing rapid growth, to the degree that researchers are encountering the outer limits of available technology, prompting some in the field to call for a slightly more cautious approach.