Preservation of Clovis Archaeological Materials at the Arizona State Museum

Recipient: Odegaard, Nancy (Tucson, AZ 85721-0026 USA) in affiliation with University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ 85721 USA)

Goal: An assessment of the Arizona State Museum's Clovis archaeological collection of more than 27,000 objects, dated 13,000 years ago, and associated excavation field notes and other documentation. A conservator experienced in the preservation of paleoanthropological materials will assess the collection and recommend storage supplies, and the museum's staff will rehouse the objects.

Description: The Arizona State Museum (ASM) seeks to preserve its Clovis archaeological materials. The proposed project includes: (1) a conservation assessment of the collection and its current environmental conditions by a conservator specializing in paleo-archaeological materials, (2) discussions with paleo-archaeologists on issues of access and preservation for research collections, and (3) the re-housing of these artifacts to appropriate containers in existing museum cabinets and shelves. Current conditions for the collections have increased deterioration and compromised collections management activities. Preservation and re-housing of these items will make them more accessible for both scientific research and interpretive uses.

Grant: 199541 / PG-50797-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Mulberry Row Reassessment: Digitizing a Decade of Archaeological Research on Slavery at Monticello

Recipient: Neiman, Fraser D (Charlottesville, VA 22902 USA) in affiliation with Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.

Goal: The completion of cataloging and digitization of 132,720 archaeological artifacts from areas along Mulberry Row, occupied from 1804 to 1858 by enslaved African Americans at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Plantation, and making the data freely available on the Internet.

Description: In the 1980s archaeologists excavated sixteen sites along Mulberry Row, a dirt path adjacent to the neoclassical mansion that Thomas Jefferson designed and built at Monticello Plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia. The sites were once the homes and workspaces of enslaved artisans and domestics. The assemblages recovered were never completely catalogued, depriving both scholars and the general public of the possibility of using them to probe the historical dynamics of slavery at Monticello. Monticello???s department of archaeology initiated the Mulberry Row Reassessment in 2000 to digitize completely artifacts, faunal remains, and field records from this decade of fieldwork, following protocols established by the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery. This proposal seeks funds to complete the project, to make the results accessible to scholars and the public on the web, and to enhance our understanding the changing life ways of people enslaved at Monticello.

Grant: 194450 / PW-50357-09,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources,   Year Awarded: 2009

ASOR- Near East Archaeology Archives

Recipient: Meyers, Eric M (Durham, NC 27708 USA) in affiliation with American Schools of Oriental Research (Boston, MA 02215 USA)

Goal: Arranging and describing the contents of three geographically dispersed archives that focus on archaeological excavations and the history of archaeology in the Middle East from 1871 to the present, as well as creating finding aids and mounting digitized materials on the Internet.

Description: The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) seeks $300,903 from the National Endowment of the Humanities for a project 1) to unite the three portions of its historic, yet previously inaccessible archive collections, 2) to digitize and publish online most of the items, and 3) to establish a finding aid on the internet with metatags that will dramatically increase public and scholarly access to this material. The requested fund from the NEH will be combined with cost-sharing contributions of $137,488 from ASOR, Boston University, and the Harvard Semetic Museum. These materials describe archaeological and historical explorations of the eastern Mediterranean and range in date from the end of the nineteenth century through the end of the twentieth century. The collections consist of over 410 lineal feet of documents, 15 drawers of maps and plans, and approximately 20 boxes of photographs and glass negatives.

Grant: 194406 / PW-50313-09,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources,   Year Awarded: 2009

Excavations at Zincirli

Recipient: Schloen, David (Chicago, IL 60637 USA) in affiliation with University of Chicago

Goal: Archaeological excavations and interpretation at the Iron Age city of Sam'al, located in modern-day Zincirli, Turkey.

Description: This archaeological project explores the 40-hectare (100-acre) site of Zincirli in southeastern Turkey, near the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, on the eastern side of the Amanus Mountains. Zincirli was the site of ancient Sam'al, an important walled city of the later Iron Age (ca. 900-600 B.C.) and capital of an independent kingdom. Previous excavations have produce many impressive finds and a good picture of the Iron Age royal citadel in the center of the site. Funds are sought to expand excavations at the site, especially in the large lower town, which was not previously investigated. There are very few Iron Age sites in the Levantine region at which large horizontal exposures of coherent architectural phases has been achieve, and Zincirli is ideally suited for this, promising to provide a qualitative leap in our understanding of Iron Age urbanism as a result of the quantitative expansion of excavation to cover entire urban neighborhoods.

Grant: 196445 / RZ-51027-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

Archaeological Sites, Indigenous Frontiers, and Unconquered Maya Culture at Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico

Recipient: Palka, Joel W (Chicago, IL 60607 USA) in affiliation with University of Illinois at Chicago

Goal: An archaeological and historical study of the origins and cultural transformation of the Lacandon Maya in Chiapas, Mexico.

Description: While research has focused on colonized Maya, little is known about unconquered Maya in the rainforests of Chiapas, Mexico, including their origins. This project involves the Lacandon Maya and experts in archaeology, history, and anthropology. The Lacandon are believed to be descendant from the ancient Maya or Yucatec Maya migrants who only recently experienced change. The clarification of their origins and cultural transformations are important topics for research on ethnogenesis or the creation of indigenous cultures. The investigators hypothesize that Lacandon ethnic formation occurred when different Maya groups entered the remote rainforests escaping European colonization. We will acquire archaeological, archival, and Lacandon cultural information regarding their origins. The findings will be compared to studies of ethnogenesis to understand the similarities and differences in cultural origins in colonized versus unconquered regions.

Grant: 196404 / RZ-50986-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

American Indian Art, Ritual, and Social Interaction in the Central Arkansas River Valley

Recipient: Sabo, George (Fayetteville, AR 72704 USA) in affiliation with Arkansas Archeological Survey

Goal: Archaeological investigation of settlement sites in the central Arkansas River valley to shed light on materials looted during the last two centuries from Native American burial sites. (36 months)

Description: The Carden Bottoms locality in Arkansas is well known for exquisitely decorated artifacts (ca. A.D. 1400-1700) preserved in museums across the country. Artifact designs reflect styles originating at the world-famous Cahokia site and represented at the Spiro Mounds site along the Arkansas River. Yet we know little about the people who produced these extraordinary materials. This project will employ remote sensing technologies to locate preserved cultural features at known archeological sites. Caddo, Osage, and Quapaw Indians will join Arkansas Archeological Survey archeologists in the excavation of those features to generate new information concerning the occupational history of the region and to provide better contextual information for studying the existing museum collections. Analysis of the resulting data will examine the role of art and ritual in the expression of community identity and regional social interaction.

Grant: 196446 / RZ-51028-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

The Roots of Creole New Orleans: Archaeological Investigations at St. Louis Cathedral and Ursuline Convent

Recipient: Dawdy, Shannon Lee (Chicago, IL 60637 USA) in affiliation with University of Chicago

Goal: Investigation of the interactions among Native Americans, French colonists, and African Americans in colonial period New Orleans through archaeological excavations of the gardens associated with St. Louis Cathedral and the Ursuline Convent. (36 months)

Description: Funding is requested to support a 3-year archaeological research project to investigate the French colonial foundations of New Orleans at two of its most significant historic complexes, St. Louis Cathedral and Ursuline Convent. The proposed work will extend excavations begun in the garden behind the cathedral in 2008 and incorporate the findings into a broader comparative framework that includes new fieldwork at the nearby Ursuline Convent Garden as well as specialized laboratory analyses. The study addresses how African, Native American, and European residents were exchanging knowledge and practices related to architecture, agriculture, cuisine, and medicine, and how these material practices contributed to the creation of New Orleans' unique creole culture. This project represents the first multi-site archaeological research program undertaken in the French Quarter.

Grant: 196410 / RZ-50992-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

The Hinterland of Sinop, Turkey: A Case Study of the Origins and Development of Black Sea Trade

Recipient: Doonan, Owen Patrick (Northridge, CA 91330-8300 USA) in affiliation with California State University, Northridge (Northridge, CA 91330 USA)

Goal: An archaeological survey, excavation, and analysis of the ancient Black Sea port of Sinop, Turkey.

Description: The project is an integrated program of research into the formation of the ancient Black Sea economy based on a case study in the hinterland of one of the most important ports in the Black Sea region. The primary goal of the proposed research is to determine whether the establishment of a network of Greek colonies in the Black Sea caused a fundamental change in regional social and political structure or whether Greek colonists took advantage of the knowledge and relationships already present among Black Sea ("Pontic") communities by the first millennium BC. The main components of the project include (1) archaeological survey and excavation, (2) integrated geomorphological-paleoecological investigations, (3) historical and ethnohistorical research, and (4) detailed stylistic, physical and chronometric study of archaeological finds. These components are complementary, and will provide a fundamental base for our interpretations regarding settlement and land-use patterns.

Grant: 196478 / RZ-51060-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

Exploring Our Past: Changing Human Adaptations in the Upper Mississippi River Valley

Recipient: Theler, James L (La Crosse, WI 54601 USA) in affiliation with University of Wisconsin, La Crosse

Goal: A three-week school teacher summer institute for twenty-five participants on archaeological theory and methods as applied to the prehistory of the Upper Mississippi River Valley.

Description: The proposed Institute will provide 25 K-12 teachers with three weeks of intense, guided exploration of changing cultural adaptations to the Upper Mississippi Valley over nearly fourteen millennia, and how we learn about such cultures through archaeology. The region's archaeological record tells a fascinating story and also provides an ideal vehicle for exploring how archaeologists move from potsherds to insights into how people have lived, adapted to their surroundings, and changed through time. Participants will learn about the nature of the archaeological record through actual excavation and laboratory work and discussion of how we can derive information from cultural remains. They will also complete individual classroom-implementation projects, and will emerge with content knowledge applicable to a wide range of grade levels, subject areas, geographic regions, and time periods.

Grant: 197441 / ES-50273-09,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Institutes for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2009

TAG: Transatlantic Archaeology Gateway

Recipient: Kintigh, Keith (Tempe, AZ 85287-2402 USA) in affiliation with Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ 85287 USA)

Goal: The development of tools for trans-Atlantic cross-searching and semantic interoperability between the two major archives of born-digital archaeological data in the United States and United Kingdom.

Description: The TAG project aims to develop an infrastructure to support, bring together and enhance digital content funded in the USA and England/Wales. It will build initially on existing web services registries maintained by the ADS for the historic environment sector in Europe and extends these for North American usage. A web services application will then be developed to create a standards-compliant cross-search facility for metadata records held by ADS (for the UK) and tDAR (for the USA) covering the archaeology of England and the United States. In a second stage a richer and deeper web services cross-search facility will be developed for faunal remains databases in England and the USA, providing an architecture to enable deep data mining as well as a valuable research tool for archaeologists in the UK and USA. Having been established in two national digital archive services the long-term sustainability and promotion of the service is also secured for future development and enhancement.

Grant: 197564 / PX-50022-09,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitization Collaboration Grants,   Year Awarded: 2009

Imperial Inca Statecraft and the Architecture of Power: The Late Imperial Site of Inca-Caranqui, Northern Highland Ecuador

Recipient: Bray, Tamara L (Detroit, MI 48202 USA) in affiliation with Wayne State University

Goal: Archaeological investigations at Caranqui on the northern frontier of the Inca empire to address questions about imperial architecture as a strategy of Inca statecraft. (30 months)

Description: This is a proposal to conduct collaborative archaeological investigations at the recently discovered site of Inca-Caranqui on the northern frontier of the Inca empire. The rise and fall of ancient empires has long been a source of public fascination, and the New World example of the Inca defies many common stereotypes. The proposed project focuses on imperial architecture as a material strategy of Inca statecraft and will consider how such strategies evolved as a function of time and distance from the imperial center at Cuzco. Using a combination of remote-sensing, excavation, and archival research, the international team will elucidate the history, function, and significance of this important site. The proposed research will make a significant contribution to our knowledge of the imperial agenda at the outer edges of control, provide insights into Inca statecraft during the "mature" phase of empire, and document the role and evolution of state architecture in the frontier context.

Grant: 196525 / RZ-51107-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

Virtual Taxila: A Web-Accessible, Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE) of an Ancient Indian City

Recipient: Michon, Daniel (Claremont, CA 91711 USA) in affiliation with Claremont McKenna College

Goal: Reconstruction of the ancient city of Taxila (located in modern Pakistan) through computer modeling, including animated and interactive "inhabitants," with public access via the Internet.

Description: The Virtual Taxila project will develop a web-accessible, 3D, immersive, multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), where visitors will engage in situated, participatory learning about ancient Indian culture. The project will focus on the archaeological site of Taxila, the ancient capital of western Punjab and now an UNESCO World Heritage site located in Pakistan. Taxila was inhabited c. 500 BCE to c. 700 CE, but the project will model the city as it stood at circa 1 CE. The model will include both the city's tangible heritage (the built environment and the physical artifacts) and its intangible heritage (the people and their rituals, commercial transactions, and work activities). Virtual Taxila will create a "situated" community of practice, where visitors will be immersed in the historical context about which they learn. By logging in online, visitors will be able to interact with computer controlled characters that will act as guides, providing them with an insider's experience.

Grant: 197735 / HD-50766-09,   Division: Digital Humanities,   Program: Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants,   Year Awarded: 2009

Digital Documentation and Reconstruction of an Ancient Maya Temple and Prototype Design of Internet GIS Database of Maya Arch

Recipient: von Schwerin, Jennifer F (Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 USA) in affiliation with University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM 87131 USA)

Goal: Two planning workshops for an online database of Maya architecture, with a long-term goal of developing a platform that curates 3-D virtual objects and environments linked to GIS data.

Description: This is a request to support two planning workshops for an international large-scale project to develop a publicly accessible, online database of Maya architecture for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Copan, Honduras that curates highly-accurate, 3D models in a virtual environment that is linked to a searchable GIS database of digital records. Art history, anthropology, and museum personnel from the University of New Mexico and the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History will work with computer technology experts from the ETH Zurich and others to create a tool that makes full-use of the potential for 3D models in research and teaching on ancient architecture.

Grant: 196205 / HD-50583-09,   Division: Digital Humanities,   Program: Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants,   Year Awarded: 2009

The "Big Digs" Go Digital: Sharing Opportunities and Challenges for Large-Scale German and American Excavations

Recipient: Davis, Jack L (Princeton, NJ 08540-5232 USA) in affiliation with American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Goal: A joint three-day workshop with the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut, Abteilung Athen (DFG request: 14,158 euros) on the application of digital technologies to better preserve, study, and make accessible the data from large-scale, long-term archaeological digs.

Description: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut, Abteilung Athen, have conducted excavations at the most important sites in Greece, and since the 1990's have been applying digital technologies to archaeological fieldwork. At the same time, concern has been growing about the best ways to manage, disseminate, and preserve digital resources. Both the ASCSA and the DAI have been investigating the long term preservation and interoperability of data over the last few years, with support from their home countries. This proposal requests funding to support a German-American bilateral symposium, to be held in Athens (November 4-7, 2009) at which specialists in digital archaeology can assess the problems which the "big digs" face in the digital age, discuss the challenges of managing digital assets, and explore opportunities for future transatlantic cooperation in developing a robust cyberinfrastructure to support large-scale excavations.

Grant: 196340 / HW-50003-09,   Division: Digital Humanities,   Program: NEH/DFG Symposia and Workshops Program,   Year Awarded: 2009

CORONA Archaeological Atlas of the Middle East

Recipient: Casana, Jesse (Fayetteville, AR 72701 USA) in affiliation with University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Goal: The creation of a digital archaeological atlas of selected sites from the greater Near East (North Africa to Central Asia) based on CORONA satellite images.

Description: Archaeologists have long appreciated the the extraordinary power of aerial photography and satellite imagery to aid in the discovery and interpretation of arcaeological sites, the recognition of larger cultural landscape features. However in the Middle East, no imagey of adequate spatial resolution was available to archaeologists until 1995, when a large archive of US intelligence satellite images from the 1960s and 1970s, know as CORONA, were declassified and made publicly available. These images provide stunning, high resolution views of the landscape before urbanization and expansion, and have been employed recently in a handful of innovative archaeological projects in the Middle East. However, these images as distributed by the USGS exhibit severe distortions and must be photogrammetrically corrected making them useful to only a handful of specialists. This project will develop and distribe a digital CORONA satellite imagery-based archaeological atlas of the Middle East.

Grant: 189785 / PW-50083-08,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources,   Year Awarded: 2008

Beyond the Mansion: Digitizing Thirty Years of Archaeological Research on Slavery at the Hermitage

Recipient: Galle, Jillian E (Charlottesville, VA 22902 USA) in affiliation with Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.

Goal: The completion of the cataloging of 800,000 artifacts from areas occupied from 1804 to 1858 by enslaved African Americans on Andrew Jackson's residence and plantation.

Description: The Hermitage, Home of President Andrew Jackson, was the home to over 250 enslaved African Americans. Since 1970, archaeological research at The Hermitage has resulted in the collection of over 800,000 artifacts. These artifacts represent one of the largest archaeological collections which document the history of a single community of enslaved people in the New World. The Hermitage Department of Archaeology, in collaboration with the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS), requests NEH funding to allow for the completion of analysis, cataloguing, and uploading to the Internet of the existing Hermitage archaeological collection. In so doing, the Hermitage collection will further advance the comparative study of slavery in the New World.

Grant: 189875 / PW-50172-08,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources,   Year Awarded: 2008

The Emergence of States and Social Complexity in Greece: The Pylos Excavation Project

Recipient: Cosmopoulos, Michael Basil (St. Louis, MO 63121 USA) in affiliation with University of Missouri, St. Louis

Goal: Excavation, technical analysis, and interpretation of archaeological finds at Bronze-Age Iklaina on the southern Peloponnesus. (36 months)

Description: The project examines the emergence of states and social complexity in Greece, through a systematic interdisciplinary investigation of the earliest recorded state, that of Pylos. We seek to analyze the specific mechanisms that led to the unification of regional centers of power (chiefdoms) into the centralized state of Pylos during the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1600-1100 BC). This will be done through the study of one of those chiefdoms-turned districts of the state of Pylos and its relation to the main capital of the state.

Grant: 191357 / RZ-50866-08,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2008

Nippur Monograph

Recipient: Gibson, McGuire (Chicago, IL 60637 USA) in affiliation with University of Chicago

Goal: The preparation for publication of six volumes documenting and interpreting the excavations at the Mesopotamian sites of Nippur and Abu Salabikh in Iraq. (36 months)

Description: This proposal seeks funding to prepare for publication the five remaining archaeological monographs on Nippur, the religious center of Mesopotamia, and one on the related site of Abu Salabikh. This backlog in publishing has accumulated in part due to the death of some of the authors (e.g., R. C. Haines). In other cases, career changes dictated different archaeological projects (George Dales, Donald P. Hansen) or the abandonment of archaeology (D. McCown). For staff members who have taken on the Nippur excavations since 1972, continuing commitments to teaching and new field research have meant that publications fell steadily behind. But because a number of the scholars who are collaborating in this project are retired or are nearing retirement, and their teaching or curatorial duties are reduced or have ended, there is a window of opportunity to complete these volumes, but the work must be done efficiently and with dispatch.

Grant: 191393 / RZ-50902-08,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2008

The Oplontis Project: Excavation, Study, and Publication of Villa A at Torre Annunziata, Italy, 50 BCE-CE 79

Recipient: Clarke, John (Austin, TX 78705 USA) in affiliation with University of Texas, Austin (Austin, TX 78712 USA)

Goal: Analysis, mapping, interpretation, and preparation for publication of archaeological finds at the Roman villa of Oplontis, including a digital reconstruction of the building. (18 months)

Description: The Oplontis Project, a collaboration between the University of Texas at Austin and the Archaeological Superintendency of Pompeii, has as its goal the study and definitive publication of the largest and best-preserved villa excavated in the area buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. It is an international, interdisciplinary project aimed at understanding the villa's history in relation to its owners and inhabitants through stratigraphic excavation, chronological tools (analysis of masonry, pavements, and frescoes), and digital modeling. It will provide a multi-authored monograph on the villa and its finds; a complete digital archive of records, photographs, and previous scholarship all linked to a navigable virtual computer model of the existing state of the site; and a meticulously-researched hypothetical reconstruction of the villa and its contents. The model will be the first to permit research with avatars, testing the social and functional uses of the villa's spaces.

Grant: 191522 / RZ-50941-08,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2008

Cataloging and Rehousing Cahokia Archaeological Artifacts

Recipient: Kozuch, Laura (Champaign, IL 61820 USA) in affiliation with University of Illinois (Champaign, IL 61820-6903 USA)

Goal: The completion of the cataloging and rehousing of circa 500 cubic feet of materials excavated since 1920 at Cahokia, a prehistoric site in Illinois dated A.D. 1200 to 1300.

Description: The Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program (ITARP) at the University of Illinois seeks funds to catalog & rehouse a collection of artifacts (about 981 ft3) from Cahokia, a UNESCO World Heritage site. An electronic catalog will be created, including excavator, project year, material class, and artifact counts. A searchable portion of this database will be posted on the ITARP web site, and summary reports on each excavation will be on the ITARP web site in Adobe Acrobat format, including information on documents and major publications. Creating web access to the Cahokia database is an important step, since people interested in Cahokia are aware of the many mounds and plazas that have been excavated. With completion of this project, researchers focusing on Cahokia would be easily able to determine on-line if ITARP houses collections from a particular excavation.

Grant: 189768 / PW-50066-08,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources,   Year Awarded: 2008