Beginning in 2004, archeologists working on behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation conducted several phases of investigations at the Kitchen Branch site (41CP220) in northeast Texas’ Camp County. The Kitchen Branch site, situated on the northern bank of the Kitchen Branch of Prairie Creek (the site’s namesake), was located within the footprint of a proposed bridge slated for construction during expansion of FM 557 and would (within the expansion area) be destroyed as a result. For compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended) and the Antiquities Code of Texas , those impacted areas were investigated and excavated in detail prior to bridge construction. While the site contained evidence of occupations that ranged from among the earliest humans in the New World through the 20th century, researchers focused on the remnants of a single-family home site attributed to the later phases of Caddo native history, the peoples who dominated the region of northeast Texas, eastern Oklahoma, northwest Louisiana, and western Arkansas from A.D. 800 through the age of European contact.

Extensive investigations beginning in 2004 revealed some 236 prehistoric features and collected roughly 20,000 artifacts, shedding light on a lesser-known period of Caddo culture in this particular area.  The results have been interpreted for the public by Texas Department of Transportation and AmaTerra Environmental, Inc., and are available in tDAR now!  We encourage you to visit tDAR and download a digital copy of this report, designed to be approachable and interesting to a lay audience.

Peering Through the Sands of Time, The Archeology of the Caddo at the Kitchen Branch Site (41CP220) in East Texas. Mason D. Miller, Timothy K. Perttula, Rachel J. Feit. 125 East 11th Street, Austin, Texas 78701: Texas Department of Transportation Environmental Affairs Division Archeological Studies Program. 2014 ( tDAR id: 407094) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8P55QG4

In partnership with the United States Air Force (USAF), the Shaw Air Force Base (Shaw AFB) in South Carolina and Avon Park Air Force Range (Avon Park AFR) in Florida archaeology archives were recently added to tDAR.  Each archive contains documents, images, and other data from archaeological and other cultural resource research conducted at both bases.  The creation of these digital archives is part of a pilot program to investigate the feasibility of the USAF using tDAR as a long-term repository for archaeological information important for the management and protection of important archaeological resources on USAF bases.  The records in the Shaw Air Force Base Archaeology Archive are organized as a collection within tDAR which includes 512 files.  The Avon Park Air Force Range Archaeology Archive also is organized as a tDAR collection and includes 219 files.

Most of the information in the archives is generally available.  However, due to confidential information, mainly specific site locations, included in some of the files, the collections’ material are accessible according to three  categories depending on their content.  Confidential records contain sensitive USAF information and are available only to the USAF officials responsible for the archaeological resources or others authorized by these Air Force officials; confidential with redacted copy available are files from which USAF sensitive information has been removed and a redacted version is available to registered tDAR users; and, available to all users are files  that contain no confidential information and are available to all registered tDAR users.

The USAF digital archives project demonstrates how staff at the Center for Digital Antiquity can work under contract or cooperative agreement with public agencies to provide digital curation services directly to agencies.  Some of these services include: organization of materials, drafting of metadata, examining files for potentially confidential information, and uploading files to tDAR. The USAF project to date has been funded by a contract administered through the CRM consulting firm GMI (now part of Versar).  USAF staff worked closely with experts at Digital Antiquity to review draft metadata and redacted versions of files before final versions were made public in tDAR.  At Digital Antiquity we look forward to working with the USAF on more digital archives for facilities and with other agencies on similar projects.

Have questions about the USAF pilot, or a similar project you would like to start, contact us.

David Plaza was awarded a 2012 Center for Digital Antiquity grant for his project entitled The Anasazi Origins Project Digital Archives Initiative (AOPDAI), designed to digitize and ingest into tDAR the associated records stored at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU). The AOPDAI’s mission is to aggregate and digitize all data associated with the Anasazi Origins Project (AOP), and archive the data on platforms that are capable of easily sharing the results among researchers, professionals, and the interested public.

The AOP was led by Cynthia Irwin-Williams to investigate the antecedents of the Ancestral Puebloans (Oshara Tradition) in the Arroyo Cuervo Region of northwestern New Mexico. Irwin-Williams’ project was fundamental to illuminating the poorly understood Archaic period in the northern Southwest, and resulted in an enormous collection of artifacts, ecofacts, and contextual documents from its field campaigns.

tDAR aids in improving and disseminating this important collection by providing additional long term preservation services to aid in ensuring access to the AOP records in perpetuity.  Furthermore, tDAR’s data integration tools allow information from various components of ENMU’s AOP data sets to be easily synthesized for new analyses.

The AOPDAI uploads to tDAR is an effort to collect and migrate digitized data of the AOP from various parts of the country into a central location. At present, the AOPDAI on tDAR draws from several components of the AOP collection held at ENMU: publications, field maps, photographs, artifact spreadsheets, site records, and inventory sheets for notes. In addition, there is a data set of the site records from the AOP field campaigns organized using the laboratory site record format that can be used in spreadsheets or a Microsoft Access database. Plaza will continuously update this data set for the next two years as more lab work is completed and as additional records and artifacts are located and digitized. Additional planned uploads will include artifact catalogues describing the AOP collections housed at Eastern New Mexico University. Near future endeavors will consist of virtually reunifying components of this collection that exist at the National Anthropological Archives with those at ENMU and tDAR.

Scholars or curators with resources relevant to the Anasazi Origins Project and interested in contributing these resources to The Anasazi Origins Project Digital Archive Initiative should contact David Plaza at david.plaza@enmu.edu.

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has expanded their archiving efforts in tDAR to include a new set of georeferenced versions of maps of central Tikal (originally published in Tikal Report 11: Map of the Ruins of Tikal, El Peten, Guatemala by Robert F. Carr and James E. Hazard in 1961). The print maps were georeferenced and checked for accuracy by a University of Cincinnati project at Tikal, and have not been widely circulated until now.  The electronic versions of these maps will be especially useful resources for archaeologists, biologists, tourists and to the managers of Tikal National Park, and are intended for use with GIS software.

Please visit https://core.tdar.org/project/390922 to view the georeferenced Tikal maps!

This project, created by the Center for Digital Antiquity under contract with the United States Air Force covers documents and other digital resources from archaeological research conducted at or for Dyess Air Force Base (Dyess AFB). Dyess AFB, established in 1942 as Abilene Army Air Base (AAB), is a B1-Bomber base on 6,409-acre located in the southwest corner of Abilene, TX in Taylor County. The archaeology of the Taylor County area dates the human occupation of the area from about 12,500 B.C. into the present. Dyess AFB has at least seven recorded archaeological sites and 300 Cold War era facilities. A number of archaeological investigations of varying intensity and detail have been conducted since the 1920’s on or around Dyess AFB. The Dyess AFB cultural resource staff and US Air Force archaeologists collaborated with Digital Antiquity curators to create a digital repository of these archaeological documents and other materials.

In the tDAR archive these reports and other digital data are now readily accessible for necessary management reviews and decision-making, research and educational uses, and to ensure their long-term preservation. Air Force cultural resource staff will be able to use tDAR to access information about the archaeological resources at Dyess readily whether they are at the base, where they might be able to find a paper copy, or not.  The goal of this digital archiving effort is to identify archaeological documents, data sets, images, and other materials relevant to the area within and near Dyess; obtain or create digital copies of reports, data sets, images, and other appropriate materials; check the text and illustrations of each report and redact information that should be kept “confidential;” and deposit the materials into tDAR, where they can be accessed (as appropriate) and preserved for future use.

The overall digital archiving project for the Air Force is continuing with similar efforts underway for Shaw AFB (South Carolina) and Avon Park AFB (Florida). Regarding the Dyess materials, which have never before been widely available, only a few of the documents are regarded as having confidential information, so most of the items are generally available to registered tDAR users.  This tDAR collection of documents will be particularly useful for CRM contractors, teachers, and researchers who are interested in the archaeology in the area. Of special note for anyone interested in a good overview of the archaeology of the area is Nancy Kenmotsu’s 2011 report, Archaeological Needs Assessment for Dyess Air Force Base, Taylor County, Texas.  

Documents

• An Archaeological Curation-Needs Assessment for Headquarters Air Combat Command Volume 2 (1997)
• An Archaeological Curation-Needs Assessment of Military Installations in Selected Western States Volume 1 (2000)
• Archaeological Needs Assessment for Dyess Air Force Base, Taylor County, Texas (2011)
• Cultural Resources in the Proposed Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Facilities, Dyess Air Force Base, Taylor County, Texas (1989)
• Dyess AFB Properties that Will Become Eligible (2011)
• Dyess Air Force Base and Ellsworth Air Force Base Force Structure Change Environmental Assessment (2002)
• Email summary of Dyess AFB collections stored at the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory (2004)
• Final Environmental Assessment Implementation of Defense BRAC Commision Recommendations Dyess AFB, Texas (2007)
• Final Environmental Impact Statement, Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Program, Volume I (1989)
• Final Environmental Impact Statement, Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Program, Volume II (1989)
• Final Report Cultural Resources Survey of Dyess Air Force Base, Abilene, Taylor County, Texas (1995)
• Impact of Current and Future Limitations on Training Quality and Access (2005)
• Memorandum of Understanding, Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory and Dyess AFB (2004)
• TARL Letter of Collection Condition 6-23-2004, Dyess AFB (2004)

Images

• Dyess AFB Archive Images (2004)

Digital Antiquity is pleased to announce the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (PennMuseum) collection in tDAR. Digital curators created metadata and uploaded all of the digital supplementary material from 18 books published by the Penn Museum.

These incredible materials include rich data sets, images, and reports, all available for download by registered tDAR users. tDAR’s content is indexed by major search engines, and exposes the Penn Museum’s  published digital content to searchers who may otherwise be unaware of these books and their associated digital media.    

The books themselves are available for purchase at the University of Pennsylvania Press (Penn Press) website at http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/series/UPM.html. The books focus on scholarship from around the world including:

 

Asia & the Pacific

• Ban Chiang, a Prehistoric Village Site in Northeast Thailand, Volume 1: The Human Skeletal Remains
• Mapping Mongolia: Situating Mongolia in the World from Geologic Time to the Present
• Santa Cruz Island Figure Sculpture and Its Social and Ritual Contexts

 

Middle East/Eurasia

• Botanical Aspects of Environment and Economy at Gordion, Turkey

• Exploring Iran: The Photography of Erich F. Schmidt, 1930-1940

• Gordion Seals and Sealings Individuals and Society

• Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the Baikal Region, Siberia Bioarchaeological Studies of Past Life Ways

• Peoples and Crafts in Period IVB at Hasanlu, Iran

 

Mesoamerica

• The Artifacts of Tikal—Ornamental and Ceremonial Artifacts and Unworked Material Tikal, Report 27A
• The Artifacts of Tikal—Utilitarian Artifacts and Unworked Material Tikal Report 27B
• The Maya Vase Conservation Project
• Settlement Archaeology at Quiriguá, Guatemala
• Tikal Report 34, Part A: Additions and Alterations: A Commentary on the Architecture of the North Acropolis, Tikal, Guatemala
• Tikal Report 37: Historical Archaeology at Tikal, Guatemala

 

Europe

• Dún Ailinne: Excavations at an Irish Royal Site, 1968-1975
• Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend
• Reports on the Vrokastro Area, Eastern Crete, Volume 2: The Settlement History of the Vrokastro Area and Related Studies
• Reports on the Vrokastro Area, Eastern Crete, Volume 3 The Vrokastro Regional Survey Project, Sites and Pottery