Archeology & Collections

Yucca House National Monument is an unexcavated Puebloan surface site. It is one of the largest archaeological sites in southwest Colorado. Yucca House undergoes long-term preservation so archaeologists can continue to study this site. Archaeologists believe this site holds the key for future understanding of American Indian heritage. For more information about Yucca House National ...

The Delta Region faces natural disasters frequently from hurricanes, flooding, and tornadoes to name a few. It is important to ensure that collections managers are prepared for natural disasters that frequent the area.

When organizing the Remote Site Surveillance meeting held last year, in August of 2008, one of the things I hoped to do was spark discussion about the administrative sustainability of surveillance/monitoring programs…

NCPTT worked in conjunction with the American Institute for Conservation to produce the workshop series, “After the Storm: Recovery of Wet Collections,” which was held in March.

A free webinar session at the 29th International Submerged Lands Management Conference will address cultural resources. This session will cover issues surrounding the assessment of injury and damage to submerged cultural resources from oil or chemical spills, groundings, looting or any other man-made impact. The speakers will discuss the various methodologies that are used to conduct ...

The broadcast for Preparing for the Next Disaster has concluded. Once transcripts and closed captioning have been completed, we will place the videos online. Thank you for your participation. Should you have any questions, please comment on this post or email Sarah M. Jackson. NCPTT offered a free webinar “Disaster Preparedness for Cultural Resources: Preparing You ...

Texas Tech University and CyArk have produced a webinar to train Vanishing Treasures personnel in the use of High Definition tools in archeology.

The National Park Service (NPS) Museum Management Program has re-launched its Web Catalog museum collections website. This project is an ongoing initiative that supports the Director’s Call to Action #17, “Go Digital” by providing online access to thousands of images and records from the NPS museum collections.

Ancient Ice Age American artifacts shed light on how people may have lived 10,000 years ago. University of Memphis professors Ryan Parish, David Dye and Ying Sing Li used funding from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), a program of the National Park Service, to analyze stone spear points from central Tennessee. ...

This thorough website was built and designed as a clearinghouse of information on videotape preservation.

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Blair Atcheson:     I am Blair Atcheson with the Naval History and Heritage Command Underwater Archeology Branch, NHHC for short because that’s a mouthful. Myself along with Dr. Richard Hulver, NHHC’s lead historian on Indianapolis, have ...

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

The USS Arizona rests in Honolulu as part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. The Monument was developed to teach visitors about the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II-one of the most pivotal moments in our history. The monument also preserves ...

The team investigated whether Eularian Video Magnification (EVM) had practical applications for the conservation of cultural materials. Eulerian Video Magnification (EVM) is an open-source tool originally developed by MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab for medical monitoring environments. EVM can show movement that is not visible to the naked human eye such as a ...

The U. S. Green Building Council recently released a draft update on its LEED rating system and is seeking public input by January 14, 2011.

The intent of the proposed research was to use historic aerial photographs to evaluate the effectiveness of using them as a data source to detect and document change in prehistoric earthen structures through time. There was some reason to believe that photogrammetric methods could serve as a basis for detecting changes in such archaeological remains, ...

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have uncovered new information about the mystery of the pre-European archaeological monument sites in Michigan. Researchers from the university decided to focus on burial mounds and circular earthwork enclosures that are subject to high rates of destruction. They borrowed a modeling technique from landscape ecology called Maximum Entropy ...

U.S. treatment of underwater cultural heritage beyond the territorial sea is analysed in light of Law of the Sea principles and the UNESCO Draft Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. Article published in 2000.

Two additional grants totaling $50,000 were made to the following recipients. The Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center is receiving $25,000 to develop a symposium on the Conservation and Continuation of Native American Monumental Wood Carving. The California Preservation Foundation is receiving $25,000 to advance distance learning through the Preservation Virtual Classroom.

Tuzigoot National Monument was established to preserve the buildings of the Sinaqua Indians. These people began building around 1100 AD and eventually expanded the pueblo to include 110 rooms, including second and third story structures. In 1932, Earl Jones lead a survey party through the area bringing national attention to the site. The next year, the Arizona State ...

Katrina, 9-11, and “other challenges mean the preservation of our historic resources…requires innovative and proactive approaches during the coming decades” (Preserve America p5). That, I think, is where our remote archaeological site surveillance event comes into its own, especially when you consider how clearly antiquities trade, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism are becoming linked.

700 years ago, the ideas of neighboring Native american cultures combined to create a unique and vibrant society. This became known as the Salado Phenomena. Tonto National Monument was created to showcase two Salado-style cliff dwellings. Guests can see these sites and experience colorful pottery, woven cotton cloth, and other artifacts that tell the stories ...

This manual is intended to outline the measurement process of complicated three-dimensional curvilinear objects using the Faro Technologies Bronze Series Liberated CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) in conjunction with various software packages to produce both two-dimensional and three-dimensional drawings of these objects and their surfaces. It discusses the measurement of half-hull ship models in particular, with the ultimate goal being the generation of ...

Under the microscope sat a thin section of the smaller Bamiyan Buddha from Afghanistan which was destroyed in 2001. As polarizing filters were placed in front of and behind the sample creating cross polarization, grains of large quartz, feldspars, chert, and other components sparkled in vivid color on a dark background. This technique is called ...

This project was a two-phase approach to evaluating the use of multibeam swath bathymetry as a new tool for underwater archeology.

In this edition of the podcast, we join NCPTT’s Anna Muto as she speaks with John Watson, Instruments Conservator and Associate Curator at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Today they will discuss the special considerations of conservation when artifacts remain in use.

The North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics (NADAG) is a database and website that aims to promote use, education, communication, and knowledge of archaeological geophysics in North America. It is maintained by the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CATS) at the University of Arkansas at: http://www.cast.uark.edu/nadag. Most North American archaeologists have little knowledge of geophysical methods ...

“The North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics (NADAG) is a database and website under continuous development that aims to promote use, education, communication, and a knowledge base of the practice of archaeological geophysics in North America.   It is maintained by the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas at: www.cast.uark.edu/nadag.”  (Excerpted ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Josephina Maldonado:  So good morning everyone. My name is Josephina Maldonado. I am a senior conservation tech with Conservation Solutions, a division of Evergreen Architectural Arts. So I’ll be referring to them as Evergreen from ...

    Arizona State Parks (ASP) conducted a study in 2014 titled The Impact of Climate Change on Archaeological Resources in Arizona: Harnessing Citizen Science through the Arizona Site Stewardship Network. The study was funded by a grant from the National Center for Preservation Training and Technology of the National Park Service. The study shows the current relationship between ...

As part of our Remote Site Surveillance event in August of 2008, which I’ve mentioned in the prior two blog posts, we are working to enhance the joint U.S. Forest Service-Louisiana Army National Guard’s “Site Vulnerability Assessment Model.”

Magnetic gradiometry and electrical resistivity surveys carried out at the site of Whistling Elk (39HU242), was unambiguously defined numerous features including fortification ditches, bastion loops, and houses. one anomaly group was particularly noteworthy because it suggested an unusually large house measuring approximately 100 m2, 3-4 times larger than houses known through excavation or other ones ...

The research reported herein focuses on developing and testing predictive models based on the satellite remote-sensing (SRS) of prehistoric and historic archaeological phenomena. With advances in the resolution of satellite-borne imagery, such as IKONOS, and the availability of software designed to process such imagery, such as ENVI, archaeological predictive modeling is positioned to progress beyond ...

In this edition of the Preservation Technology Podcast, we meet Eric Schindelholz, a conservator in private practice who specializes in metals and marine archaeological materials. Eric was the principal investigator for a PTT Grant Project that examined methods to dry waterlogged archaeological wood.

The NCPTT’s Archaeology & Collections program is currently undertaking research to evaluate technologies applicable to the surveillance of archaeological sites. The research emphasizes technology that can aid in the apprehension and prosecution of those who vandalize and loot archaeological resources. Entities like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service (NPS) have limited ...

NCPTT responded to a request by Cane River Creole National Historical Park for technical assistance in archeology.

A good plan can determine whether a cultural collection survives a disaster or fades into memory. And while nature can be unpredictable, the online disaster-planning portal “dPlan” offers a streamlined, reliable way for institutions to protect their cultural collections. Created through funding by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, dPlan is a free, ...

Many have seen the Statue of Liberty as a beacon welcoming people to America.  Did you know that it is also a site of archaeological significance? Archaeological digs have taken place on Liberty Island as well as Ellis Island to discover the islands’ past.  In 1985 restoration workers discovered a shell midden on Liberty Island. ...

The Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC) has hosted a competition each year since 1991 for the most outstanding paper submitted by a student about the prehistory, ethnohistory, or historical archaeology of the Southeast.

Booker T. Washington National Monument has offered archeologists and other historians an unusual glimpse into the past. Archeologists have recently conducted a survey using unusual methods. Instead of digging up the grown and using trowels and other tools to sift through was was dug up, Archeologists used specialized scientific instruments on the surface to collect geophysical ...

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

The Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) will hold its annual conference entitled “The Ties That Divide: Trade, Conflict & Borders” from January 6-11, 2009 in Toronto, ON, Canada.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

Today in The Preservation Technology Podcast, NCPTT visits with Ruth Tringham, one of the founders of the University of California Berkley the People in Multimedia Authoring Center for Teaching in Anthropology at Berkley (MACTiA). As a professor of anthropology at the University of California at Berkley Ruth uses an online virtual environment called Second Life ...

Scotts Bluff National Monument was established due to the persistence of the public. On March 28, 1914, an inquiry was made to the Department of the Interior about the possibility of establishing a National Monument at Scotts Bluff. In 1916 and again in 1918, petitions were submitted to the federal government urging that a national monument commemorating ...

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument traces its roots to the early 1900s. It is a special park in that it has 3 separate units each with its own Spanish Mission. Over the years, the three units were brought together and in 1980 Salinas National Monument was formed. Throughout its history, archeologists, both inside and outside of the park ...

Established March 17, 1938, Salem Maritime National Historic Site became the first national historic site established by the National Park Service under the National Historic Sites act of 1935. It was created to tell the maritime history of New England and the United States as well as preserve part of Salem, Massachusetts’s historic waterfront. This ...

David Morgan, NCPTT archeology and collections chief, presented a paper at the Society of American Archeologists (SAA) annual meeting on burials excavated from Jackson Barracks in New Orleans.

Russell Cave National Monument is one of the National Park Service’s many archaeological sites. Russell Cave has one of the most complete records of prehistoric cultures in the Southeast. In the early 1950s, the Tennessee Valley Authority was surveying the land near Russell Cave. One crew member heard of artifacts found inside the cave. Paul ...

Neville Agnew of the Getty Conservation Institute speaks about the conservation of the hominid footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania. He lists three primary conservation topics that the general public will care about: Egyptology, dinosaurs, and human ancestry.

The Louisiana Army National Guard has provided funding for NCPTT to host a workshop on the role of technology in archeological resource protection, especially in regard to remote site surveillance techniques.

This presentation was presented as the keynote address for the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012, Presidio, San Francisco, CA.   Rocket Science and 3D Analyses in the Preservation of Artistic and Historic Works More than sixty years ago development began on the nuclear-propelled ORION Spaceship destined for a manned mission to the planet Saturn. This ...

The visual manifestation of the recent Hale-Bopp comet reminds us how telling are those rare objects which suddenly flare in the sky. One can suppose ancient people living by natural light were more compellingly struck by the sight of comets and supernovae, and understandably researchers seek images of them in the shapes of rock-art motifs. ...

When Union ships sunk the English blockade runner Modern Greece off the coast of North Carolina in 1862, Confederates at nearby Fort Fisher wasted little time in salvaging munitions from the vessel. Nearly 150 years later, what they left behind is helping make history in preservation research.

Some natural science specimens and ethnographic artifacts in museums were historically treated with arsenic and mercury salts. This has created an environmental concern for museum workers and the public who may be exposed to these toxins. In addition, museums are frequently being asked to return sacred objects under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation ...

Cultural Heritage Imaging (C-H-I) is offering a four-day workshop on the use of reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) to document cultural heritage.  The workshop will be held July 16-19, 2012 at the C-H-I offices in San Francisco, California.  The new technique helps create digital representations of artifacts and sites.  The workshop is a combination of lectures, demonstrations ...

One of the biggest barriers to the rapid spread of cutting edge, innovative technologies in archeology is cost.  Let’s face it: things that end in “-ometer” or “-oscopy” tend to be pricey.  And if they are really new, or if their utility in some contexts has yet to be proven, the price remains in the stratosphere ...

Download this episode as an mp3 or Subscribe via iTunes Kevin: Welcome to the Preservation Technology Podcast – the show that brings you the people and projects that are advancing the future of America’s heritage. I’m Kevin Ammons with the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology & Training. Today we join NCPTT’s Ben Donnan ...

James Gibbs at the State University of New York, in collaboration with Irbis Solutions Inc. will adapt patent-pending anti-poaching technology for wildlife to the particularities of protecting archeological, architectural and historic sites. Vandalism and looting are major threats to cultural resources on U.S. National Park Service properties. Novel electronic technology now exists that can inexpensively ...

This publication contains a number of readings that aid in the decision-making process involved with the discovery and evaluation of archeological sites.

This report describes procedures developed to measure shell temper in the exposed edges of archaeological sherd using digital image analysis methods and provides instructions for how to implement these procedures. It also provides confirmation that using a human-checked version of the algorithms included can produce measurements on shell temper comparable to what is achieved with ...

NCPTT’s David W. Morgan and Jason Church presented preliminary results of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of copper at the joint Louisiana Archaeological Society and Mississippi Archaeological Association meeting held from February 27-March 1, 2009 in Natchez, Miss.

Christopher Fennell of the University of Illinois recently concluded a study on the use of aerial thermal infrared technology to identify the infrastructural features of archeological sites.

PTT Grants

Getting archeology onto the silver or flat screen has always been a tricky proposition: you have to entertain, but stick to the facts, all without encouraging site looting. One of the programs that seems to have done it, at least in the U.K., is Time Team. And now it’s coming to the ...

2018-06 Washington State Parks and Rec This research study was initiated by Washington State Parks to investigate the potential of wood coatings to improve the durability and extend the service life, while maintaining the historical appearance of shingle and shake roofs. Washington State Parks oversees the maintenance and the preservation of approximately four hundred historic and ...

A wide range of methodologies have been applied to promote the conservation of exposed and managed archaeological sites, including shelters. Commonly used as a protective measure in many areas of the world, shelters are not as common in the USA. In addition there have been few efforts to evaluate scientifically their use and efficacy. As ...

In its simplest form, locative media is a portal through which location can be connected to content. By delivering content directly to a hand-held GPS-enabled device, the interpretive material has the potential to create a visitor experience that is simultaneously self-directed, has low infrastructure costs, and has minimal negative impact to the local community and their cultural landscapes. However, ...

NCPTT will hold its third annual workshop on archeological prospection Sept. 16-20, 2008, in San Francisco.

A beta web version of the NCPTT Summer Institute course, Prospection in Depth, is available online.

David Morgan, Chief of Archeology and Collections at the National Park Service National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, talks about the annual geophysics workshop course that we call Prospection in Depth Limited seating is still available for this five day course at the Presidio in San Francisco from August 4-8, 2009. The tuition of $499 ...

Prospection in Depth 2009, a course in archaeological geophysics, will be hosted from August 4-8, 2009 in partnership with the Presidio Trust at the site of El Presidio de San Francisco, in California. Register for this course online.

NCPTT and the Presidio Trust will present “Prospection in Depth 2009,” a workshop on geophysical prospection on August 4-8.

Geophysical techniques like radar, magnetometry, conductivity, and resistivity are fast becoming essential archeological skills.

NCPTT hosted Prospection in Depth, a GPS, GIS, and Geophysical technologies workshop held June 18-23, 2007.

In June 2006 the NCPTT hosted “Prospection in Depth,” a Summer Institute training program in GIS, GPS, and remote sensing aimed at archaeology professionals and students around the country. Four instructors and 10 participants used the St. Anne and Whittington sites as learning laboratories. This group of 14 collected GPS and remote sensing data, analyzed ...

From June 6-23, 2006, NCPTT partnered with the NPS Midwest Archeology Center, the NPS Cultural Resources GIS laboratory, the University of Mississippi, and Northwestern State University of Louisiana to hold its first training program on non-destructive archeological prospection techniques. This intensive workshop is unique in that it uses data from an ongoing, mature grant-funded research ...

Annually NCPTT hosts “Prospection in Depth,” an integrated, holistic professional development workshop fusing GIS, GPS, and geophysical prospection.

Proceedings of Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War Fredericksburg, Texas, June 4-6, 2019 Edited by Deborah Dietrich-Smith, NCPTT Fran Gale, Architectural Conservator Sara Amy Leach, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration Mary F. Striegel, NCPTT ISBN: Soft Bound 978-0-9970440-7-2 The National Center for Preservation and Training (NCPTT) and the National Museum of the Pacific War held a ...

The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) is a multidisciplinary international organization composed of individuals and institutions who are interested in the development and preservation of natural history collections. Under the direction of the SPNHC Conservation Committee and its Research Subcommittee, the project coordinator surveyed the SPNHC membership by mail to develop ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Paula L. Bryant:  Over the past few years, members of the Prairie Research Institute, which is comprised of five state surveys, including the Illinois state archaeological survey, have partnered with the Cook County Forest Preserve ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Rick Minor:  There we go. So this morning we heard these really excellent presentations on research that is pretty far along. This is going to be a real contrast, because this represents basically the first ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Janet Folkerts:   Okay. Hello, everyone. Thank you for giving me a chance to be here today. My name is Janet Folkerts, like she said, and I work for the National Park Service for the ...

2016-08_CyArk With support through a grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), CyArk developed a low-cost heritage documentation kit for use by heritage professionals around the world. The kit includes a digital camera, laser distance meter, tablet computer, GPS receiver and a compact tripod. Accompanying the kit are video tutorials on how ...

Maintaining public records requires judicious management of resources. It compels records custodians to identify simple, practical, cost-effective approaches that can be incorporated into daily routines.

A symposium is being held on Saturday, September 26, 2009, from 9AM to 5PM to honor James Marston Fitch, a founding father of historic preservation in the United States. Fitch was an architect, preservationist, and a founder of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. The topic for this year will be ...

Human skeletal remains from archeological sites are often studied to determine historical information such as sex, age, and health, among other facts.  The information from individuals can be used to better understand a population and the culture of a past people.  With the aid of a Preservation Technology and Training Grant, Dr. Shannon Hodge at ...

Preparing your collection for a disaster could greatly increase what survives. Northeast Document Conservation Center recommends to first prepare an emergency preparedness plan. This will allow your staff to respond quickly before, during and after a disaster with explict instructions that will provide the best practices for preparing and salvaging your collections. ...

If any substantial changes are planned to prepare a historic building for a disaster please refer to the Secretary of Interiors Standards for the Treatment of Historic Structures and check with all local and state authorities before making any changes. This article provides information on disaster preparedness in the face of floods, high winds, hurricanes, wildfires, ...

Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 12 PM – 1 PM Visitors to Poverty Point World Heritage Site are invited to take part in a ranger-led cooking demonstration using acorns which would have been an important part of the Native American diet at Poverty Point 3500 years ago. The ranger will explain how the acorns were processed to make them edible ...

Hello, my name is Lindsey Cochran from the University of Tennessee. I’m also with the NCPTT. I was a summer intern in 2014 for Tad Britt in Archeology and Collections. My project this summer was to create predictive modeling for the DEVA Project or Death Valley National Park. My goal was to identify and then ...

Poverty Point World Heritage Site is celebrating Archeology Month with several events throughout the month of October. International Archeology Day, October 15, as well as October 22 and 29 will feature special activities. Visitors will be able to experience these events after paying the $4 admission fee. Children under 12 and those 62 or older ...

We developed a plasma-chemical technique to remove carbon from rock paintings. This extraction is followed by accelerator mass spectrometric analysis of the 14C to yield direct estimates of the ages of rock paintings. We have demonstrated use of the technique on charcoal as well as iron and manganese pigmented paintings. Unfortunately, there are no rock paintings made ...

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) and The Center for Historic Architecture and Design (CHAD) in the University of Delaware’s School of Public Policy and Administration are partnering to host a two-day hands-on workshop on the uses of polarized light microscopy for the study of stone and ceramic cultural materials.  The workshop ...

Register for this two-day hands-on workshop on the uses of polarized light microscopy for the study of stone and ceramic cultural materials. The workshop will be held March 11-12, 2014 at NCPTT in Natchitoches, LA.

Petroglyph National Monument came to be by a saving grace from archeology. In the 1960s archeologists with the Albuquerque Archaeological society found several petroglyphs. The area where they were was eventually set aside under Albuquerque’s required green space regulations due to their discovery. In the 1990s Petroglyph National Monument came to be as a cooperatively managed ...

Pecos National Historical Park has long been a center for archaeological excavation. Alfred Vincent Kidder became one of the most notable archaeologists associated with the park. Kidder was responsible for site excavations at the abandoned pueblo in Pecos that is now part of the park. He was able to establish a continuous record of pottery styles ...

A calcium oxalate (whewellite)-rich crust occurs on exposed limestone surfaces in dry rock and open air shelters in the Lower Pecos region of southwest Texas.

Ocmulgee National Monument has had continuous habitation for 17,000 years. In the early to mid 1930s, Ocmulgee hosted the country’s largest archeological dig. Over 800 workers excavated under the direction of Dr. Arthur R. Kelly from the Smithsonian Institute. The results of this dig pieced together a timeline of people who lived in the area between 12,000 ...

In the pilot year of summer 2012, the NPS Archeology Program partnered with Groundwork Anacostia River DC to carry out the Urban Archeology Corps at Fort Mahan, one of the Fort Circle Parks and part of the Civil War Defenses of Washington. The work experience aimed to broaden urban youths’ knowledge about the communities east ...

2018-01 State University of New York Vandalism and looting are major threats to cultural resources on U.S. National Park Service properties. Novel electronic technology now exists that can inexpensively report in real-time on trespass at vulnerable sites in remote areas. The key objective of the project was to understand the fit and feasibility of satellite-based anti-trespass ...

Established in 1965, Nez Perce National Historical Park is situated across four states-Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Nez Perce culture, the “discovery” and mapping of America, and westward expansion during the mid-1800s serve as the the park’s three themes. The arrival of settlers from the east, treaties that affected the land, and conflicts between settlers and the ...

The research funded by the NCPTT grant has begun the development of a broad chert database, to provide a mechanism for comparing artifacts to known chert sources. The development and publication on the web of this database will make possible comparisons from across the country. As more XRF instruments become available at research ...

NCPTT has created a new research priority for its grants program targeting the field of archeology.

Recent research reveals bacteria may be the biggest ally in the fight to preserve ancient artifacts from erosion and deterioration.

On October 20, 2012, Jason Church, Curtis Desselles, and Tad Britt—National Center for Preservation Technology and Training—demonstrated copper sourcing using Native American copper fragments from the Gahagan site located in Louisiana.  The team brought the portable x-ray fluorescence instrument, which identifies elemental analysis.  This technology allows for “fingerprinting” the sample, which can then be compared ...

NCPTT Staff Receives Leica Training   On March 13, 2013 Leica trainer Walker Agnew of McBain Systems, Irving, TX presented to the NCPTT staff. Agnew presented to staff from the Materials Conservation, Architecture and Engineering, and Archeology and Collections divisions of NCPTT. Staff were trained on the use of the Leica DM750P microscope, ICC50 HD digital microscope ...

Since 1994, the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, a program of the National Park Service (ncptt.nps.gov), has engaged in state-of-the-art research in archeological treatments and technologies. The Center provides grants, education, research, and training opportunities in the areas of archeology and collections, architecture and engineering, materials conservation, and historic landscapes. To date, over ...

We are looking for proposals which develop new technologies or adapt existing technologies to preserve cultural resources. Call for Proposals (Details of the grants program) Optional Pre-Proposal (Due October 1, 2011) Submit Grant Proposal (Due October 17, 2011)

NCPTT recently provided technical assistance to the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport regarding concerns about the condition of several archeological copper objects associated with the Gahagan burials that were excavated in the 1930s.

Tad Britt, NCPTT’s Chief of Archeology and Collections, spent 13-23 November in Staten Island and surrounding area surveying hurricane damage per Section 106 of the NHRP, as amended.  Britt was part of the READ (research advisor) team who were deployed to investigate the park properties, which had been subjected to the ravenous effects of Hurricane ...

Executive Director Kirk Cordell deployed for three weeks in March 2013 as a “Cultural Recovery Specialist” to the FEMA Hurricane Sandy Joint Field Office in New York City under a national agreement that supplies National Park Service technical experts to FEMA during declared disasters. Specialists are responsible for helping FEMA identify cultural resource needs, synthesize impact ...

Navajo National Monument was established by President William Howard Taft on March 20, 1909. Earlier that year, William B. Douglass began recommending the establishment of the monument in order to protect the ruins for study by professionals. The ruins consist of a number of prehistoric cliff dwelling and pueblo ruins. Three separate sites (Betatakin, Keet ...

David W. Morgan, Chief of Archeology and Collections at NCPTT, introduces the 19th annual National Park Service Geophysics course taught by Steve De Vore. This video includes a description of the course and commentary by participants. Steve has assembled about 10 different instructors and about 18-20 participants that are providing classroom opportunities at NCPTT and ...

The National Park Service’s 2007 workshop on archaeological prospection techniques entitled Current Archaeological Prospection Advances for Non-Destructive Investigations in the 21st Century will be held May 14-18, 2007, at the HAMMER Training Center, Richland, Washington.

Museum conservators and the like are well acquainted with the fact that some types of museum exhibits are susceptible to damage caused by exposure to light.

Community, Culture, Conservation, Coast About The Mississippi River Delta has hundreds of archeological sites that cover thousands of years of human occupation. Archeological sites are rapidly disappearing due to the effects of climate change such as sea level rise, as well as storm surge, and modern development. Levees and floodgates provide flood control and aid in navigation. ...

Sediments used to build earthworks break down into identifiable soil horizons over time. Previous and on-going studies show that older earthworks have a more developed soil sequence with a well defined and thick accumulation of clay.

David Morgan, NCPTT Archeology and Collections chief, attended the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Little Rock.

David Morgan, Archeology and Collections program chief, presented “Plantation Pottery along the Cane River: Colonoware and Ethnicity” and “The Coincoin Plantation and African Architecture in Louisiana” at Abolition 2007.

“Contemporary Myths: Deconstructing the Late Colonial/Early American Creole Landscape at the Coincoin Plantation”

David Morgan of NCPTT was the lead author of a peer-reviewed paper with Nancy I.M. Morgan (Cane River National Heritage Area) and Brenda Barrett (NPS) that appeared in the December issue of American Anthropologist.

On May 8, 2007 NCPTT’s David W. Morgan attended the annual government-to-government consultation meeting held at Marksville, Louisiana.

The paper focused on the archeological and social implications of the translation of historic French documents spanning 1780-1810.

David Morgan attended the George Wright Society Biennial Conference on Parks, Protected Areas and Cultural Sites held in St. Paul, Minnesota from April 16-20.

David Morgan of NCPTT has been asked to serve as a liaison between University College London and the Louisiana Division of Archaeology in coordinating an artifact loan for an exhibit.

NCPTT’s David W. Morgan and the University of Arizona’s Arleyn Simon co-hosted a symposium at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, held April 25-29 in Austin, Texas.

David W. Morgan has been accepted as an Expert Member of International Council on Monuments and Sites’ International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management.

Back in Blog 2, “Turning the Wheel…,” I was tracing the strange but true link between methamphetamines and antiquities theft. Turns out I’m not the only person with this on their mind.

Montezuma Castle National Monument is home to the preservation of at least two early native cultures. In 1916 the site was moved to the National Park Service in order to allow for protection of potential artifacts. Archeologists have since excavated Montezuma Castle and discovered how the Sinagua people lived. To see some of the artifacts found ...

NCPTT’s David W. Morgan participated in “Mobile XRF in Museums: Applications for Anthropology and Natural History Collections.”

NCPTT contributed funds to support the Midwest Archeological Center’s annual workshop on geophysical prospection.

Simple book repair was defined as those repairs meeting the following criteria: the repair could be completed in a relatively short period of time, required a relatively low level of conservation skill and experience, and could be accomplished with available tools and supplies.

NCPTT’s sponsored metal detection workshop was a resounding success.  Twenty participants and six instructors spent a day in the classroom and one-and-a-half days in the field, which were very productive.  Students surveyed three redoubt locations at New Ebenezer, Georgia and recovered a variety of revolutionary war-era artifacts.  Several cannon balls, musket balls, gun parts, and ...

Hello again! This is Amy Broussard, and this is my third and final update on the archaeological study that was the focus of my internship at NCPTT. The project incorporated metal detecting in an archaeological investigation of a colonial homestead near Natchitoches, Louisiana. My previous posts gave background information and explained the field methods we employed – ...

Hello again! This is Amy Broussard, NCPTT Archaeology & Collections intern. With the guidance and supervision of Tad Britt, we are testing an eighteenth-century archaeological home site in northwest Louisiana, incorporating the use of a metal detector. My previous post provided an introduction to the project and detailed the legal and ethical implications of “treasure hunting,” so I’ll skip ...

My name is Amy Broussard and I’m honored to be interning with Tad Britt, chief of archaeology and collections here at the NCPTT. This is the first in a series of blog posts that will describe the work completed during this 2017 internship. First, a little about my background: I studied anthropology at Louisiana State ...

Mesa Verde National Park, located in Mesa Verde, Colorado, features the site of the pueblo cliff dwellers.  One of its main features is its Archaeological Site Conservation Program.  Archaeologists visit the site to record the details of the architecture.  They work to maintain, repair, and restore the site for future generations.  To learn more about ...

PTT Grant MT-2210-05-NC-09, Merging Aerial Synthetic Aperture Radar and Satellite Multispectral Data to Inventory Archaeological Sites.

This project will devise protocols for the fusion of commercially available synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with commercially available multispectral data for the inventory of archaeological sites.

The need is clear for rapid, wide-area, planning level inventories of archaeological sites, which are disappearing rapidly because of development and looting. Inventory makes preservation through monitoring and proactive planning possible. Successful protocols for the use of sophisticated synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technologies for such inventories in certain environments were formulated recently.

This publication reflects the essence of the information and ideas that were shared at the Maritime Cultural Landscape Symposium, held on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall of 2015.  The gathering was the result of planning by three federal agencies and one state agency: the National Park Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ...

Past people satisfied their tool stone needs while negotiating a lithic landscape that varyied along multiple dimensions. To appreciate decisions made by past people, then, the lithic landscape must be known. This paper reports on a technique to rapidly and reliably characterize the lithic landscape in terms of nodule frequency, dimensions, and lithology using strategic fieldwork coupled with Geographic Information ...

This Best Practices Manual is a document designed to instruct the public and cultural resource managers in the most effective use of the emerging technology of mechanical scanning sonar in the study, management and preservation of submerged archaeological remains. The document is presented in an easily understandable format with the goal of not being encyclopedic ...

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training is proud to announce the completion of the Manual of Best Practices for the Employment of Mechanical Scanning Sonar in the Documentation of Submerged Cultural Resources. This manual was prepared for NCPTT by Christopher Sabick of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. This manual is “designed to instruct the ...

On October 4, NCPTT hosted one of the statewide activities celebrating Louisiana Archaeology Week.

Morgan discussed the results of his recent NEH-funded archaeological investigations at the Louisiana Archaeological Society’s annual meeting held on March 4 in Monroe.

Amanda N. Carr Stephen F. Austin State University National Center for Preservation Technology and Training Research on lead cloth seals is a unique field of study with only a rare handful of case studies existing worldwide. While the earliest studies dated to 1908 and 1912, research on these particular artifacts did not experience a renewed interest until the ...

The Battle of Little Bighorn took place on June 25, 1876. Ever since, there has been a battle raging to find out exactly what happened. In 1983 a fire scorched Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. To find out more details about the battle, archaeologists explored the area in 1984, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1994, and 1996. ...

This report presents the results of a project undertaken by the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (UI-OSA) to develop and test LiDAR Surveyor, a feature extraction model to be used with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Bare-earth Digital Elevation Models (BE DEM) to identify conical, compound and, to a lesser extent, effigy ...

Debra Elaine Dandridge, Lichens: The Challenge for Rock Art Conservation, a Ph.D. dissertation submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, Texas A&M University.

Lava Beds National Monument makes up land that is one of the longest continually occupied areas in North America. The history and cultural legacy of the lava beds stretches back thousands of years. The park covers a wide range of history including what early Native Americans left behind in rock art and at archeological sites, the conflict ...

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site was created to tell the stories of the region’s tribal groups. Originally this area was used as major center of trade for Native Americans. After 1750, it became a marketplace for the fur trade. In 1974, congress established Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site to tell the stories of the  Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara. ...

Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve reaches over 6,000 years. The park helps tell stories of the native people who survived in Florida’s environment prior to the European’s entry into this area. Visitors can learn about the clash of cultures that occurred as various nations entered into the New World. The park also helps visitors experience modern phenomenon such ...

In this episode, we join NCPTT’s Jason Church as he speaks with Marshall Millet, owner of MMars 4-D. Today they are talking about Millet’s work with U.C. Davis and the KeckCAVES visualization facility.

Kalaupapa National Historical Park tells stories. It tells the history of Hawaii’s past as well as the stories of those who suffered from Hansen’s disease and were banished to this corner of the island. The area serves as a reminder of a time when people didn’t know how to treat this disease and people were uprooted ...

NCPTT will present two workshops in June featuring high-level technology in the archeology field.

Dr. Judy Bense, Chair of the Preservation Technology and Training board at NCPTT, has been recommended to serve as the interim President of the University of West Florida.

A Summary of Results from the 2006 and 2007 Field Seasons Bryan S. Haley Center for Archaeological Research University of Mississippi Introduction As part of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) Prospection in Depth Workshop, the University of Mississippi Center for Archaeological Research conducted a geophysical survey of the Whittington (16NA241) and Ailhaud St. Anne Site (16NA529) ...

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore borders Lake Michigan featuring over 15 miles of lake shore. Founded in 1966, the legislation that established the park was the result of efforts that began in 1899. Henry Cowles published an article entitled “Ecological Relations of the Vegetation on Sand Dunes of Lake Michigan,” in the Botanical Gazette in 1899 bringing ...

The goal of this research is to develop a technique for conducting “non-destructive” radiocarbon dating of perishable archaeological artifacts. It is not truly non-destructive because microscopic amounts of carbon must be removed form the surface. But the aim is to make the technique so that no visual change is observed. There are two very destructive steps in radiocarbon dating ...

Near-surface geophysical techniques, including ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, electrical resistivity, and electromagnetic conductivity, have become primary tools in the detection of unmarked human interments.

I-Sites contributes to information management in historic preservation in Iowa by resolving the all-too-often-overlooked need to keep preservation-related databases current with existing and ever-growing knowledge. It empowers users to record new archaeological data, giving those who most urgently need the data an active role in keeping it current. It provides government agencies, planners, professional researchers, ...

NCPTT Archeologist Tad Britt spent 13-23 November 2012 in the New York and New Jersey areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. Britt, temporarily based out of Ft Wadsworth, NY, conducted archeological and cultural resources inventory of the Park units affected by Hurricane Sandy. Areas inspected by Britt included: Jamaica Bay, NY, Morristown, NJ, Fire ...

Hurricane Katrina and its massive destruction drew attention to the commonplace markers on the landscape that create sense of place for a community.

2019-01 Colorado Mesa University Most archeologists and curators can only identify a bullet or cartridge case to caliber. This project is an innovative use of microscopically accurate forensic casting technology and testing of digital imaging technology that resulted in a database of rifling characteristics for 788 firearms that can be used to identify some common pre-1900 ...

This manual teaches communities and neighborhoods how to complete their own historic resource surveys and share that information quickly.

A growing number of Native American tribes are establishing cultural preservation offices and museums. Among their responsibilities is preservation of archeological sites and artifacts.

Archeology is a huge part of Colonial National Historical Park especially at Historic Jamestowne. This section of the park was established as a joint venture between the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia. The park service serves as host to the Jamestowne Rediscovery Society. This society has used private funds to make major strides in discovery beginning ...

PSTU was awarded a grant by NCPTT to install and test HIPROTECT, a prototype archaeological sitemonitoring system designed for a desert environment.

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX.   Susan Edwards:   Everybody. Jeff and I are delighted to be here. I wore heels. Anyway. We have a tale about a plane to tell you this morning. It’s a plane with two stories. The ...

Approximately 90 people attended a NCPTT-funded webinar on high definition documentation in archeology on Nov. 14 and 15.

Existing conditions documentation of archaeological structures can be cut by 60% and can improve the accuracy and fidelity of the documentation by using scanning technology. This would optimize valuable human and financial resources for archaeologist and preservation specialist working to save our ‘Vanishing Treasures’.

The Southeast Archeological Center and Hamline University used funds provided by NCPTT to host a four-day workshop in November called “Heritage Values: The Past in Contemporary Society.”

CPTT has agreed to provide partial support for the “Heritage Values: The Past in Contemporary Society” workshop proposed jointly by NPS’ Southeast Archeological Center and Hamline University.

Educators may find the following resources useful in teaching heritage education in the classroom.

NCPTT’s Heritage Education and Archeology and Collections programs are developing a workshop in conjunction with Dr. John Jameson of the NPS Southeast Archeology Center.

Many people have come to the Grand Canyon for its majestic views.  Did you know that thousands have come to see the archaeological digs in the canyon?  Between 2007 and 2009, a team from the National Park Service and the Museum of Northern Arizona excavated nine sites along the Colorado River.  This was the first ...

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument highlights an area that was hidden by the landscape for centuries. Archeologists investigated the Gila River and its headwaters. These investigations have identified over 100 sites in the West Fork-Middle Fork confluence. By naming it a national monument, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument allows this site to be protected and further ...

Get the Lead Out: Towards Identifying Ammunition on Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Battlefields and Settlements This report details the results of the 2017 Get the Lead Out! Workshop that was conducted by the LAMAR Institute and National Park Service in June, 2017, funded through a grant from National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. It also ...

On April 26, 2007 NCPTT and the Archaeological Preservation Technology Research Consortium (APTRC) will host a symposium on archaeological remote sensing at the 72nd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The APTRC was created with support from NCPTT, and its mission is to foster technology-oriented collaborations between universities and federal agencies with the ...

The goal of this project was to begin development of a geopmorphic-based model that could serve as a decision support tool to help in developing strategies for archaeological inventory. Objectives of the project were to (1) identify relations among archaeological site type and landform type, landform age, geologic parent materials, active and inactive springs, ...

NPS Future Park Leaders of Emerging Change Internship Program is now open and accepting applications through January 26, for internships to be held summer of 2018. Students can view and apply for all open FPL positions by visiting futureparkleaders.org. Please share this widely with your networks and interested students. Many of the intern positions for summer 2018 will ...

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) offers many advantages for assessing archaeological potential in frozen and partially frozen contexts in high latitude and alpine regions. These settings pose several challenges for GPR, including extreme velocity changes at the interface of frozen and active layers, cryogenic patterns resulting in anomalies that can easily be mistaken for cultural features, and ...

This report describes the results of the Friction Cone Penetrometer (FCP) project partially funded by the National Park Service’s (NPS) National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) with funds provided in 2013 and the NPS’s Southeastern Archeological Center (SEAC) with funds provided from 2013 to 2016. Using the NCPTT funds, SEAC entered into a ...

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in partnership with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and conservator Martin Burke announces a two day conference on the conservation of fountains. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri will host the conference which includes presented papers, poster presentations, and discussion sessions on July 10-11, ...

Fort Vancouver entered the National Park Service in 1948 as Fort Vancouver National Monument. The fort acted to preserve the original Hudson’s Bay stockade of Fort Vancouver. Throughout the years the park was expanded. In 1961, the boundaries were enlarged and the park was renamed Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. In 2011 the army discontinued ...

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site was created in 1966 in order to preserve this historic “fort.” In 1968, archeologists began excavations to help learn more about this site. Excavations continued through the early 1970s. Archeologists again excavated between 1986 and 1988 learning more and recovering more artifacts about this unique trading post. Fort Union ...

Fort Smith National Historical Site helps to preserve almost 80 years of history. From its establishment of the first fort in December of 1817 to the final days of Judge Parker’s reign over the Indian Territory in 1896, many different stories are waiting for visitors to hear. Visitors can walk where soldiers drilled, reflect along ...

Early archeological excavations of this early American fort were unauthorized and destructive to artifacts and history. Many artifacts ended up missing. Problems at Fort Pulaski National Monument and other federal sites lead to the passage of legislation making excavations without a permit illegal. Since the passage of the law, archeologists have conducted excavations which have ...

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine provides a place for people to honor our national anthem as well as our revolutionary past. Throughout its history, Archeologists have been learning more about Fort McHenry. They have been used to both to learn about the past and to help preserve for the future. Archeologists have led ...

Fort Larned National Historic Site helps preserve a  complete and authentic army post from the 1860s -1870s. This fort was on the Santa Fe Trail and the troops who served here were known as the Guardians of the Santa Fe Trail. Today, visitors can learn about the tumultuous history of the Indian Wars era from the site. Recently, ...

Fort Frederica National Monument sits on the site of Fort Frederica, Georgia. In 1947 the National Park Service and the Fort Frederica Association partnered in archeological exploration. They combined 18th century maps and journals to unearth the fort and town. Archeologists compared their data to historical documents to help increase understanding of the fort’s past. ...

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

This presentation is part of the International Cemetery Preservation Summit, April 8-10, 2014 Niagara Falls, NY. Finding Avondale: Remote Sensing for an Unmarked Cemetery in Difficult Subsurface Conditions by Hugh B. Matternes and Valerie Davis Hugh: Good morning, I’m hoping you’ll learn not only from the results we have here but some of the mistakes we made ...

New techniques of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) acquisition and computer processing were tested at buried archaeological sites in the American Southwest.

Alaska hosts a wide range of archaeological site types, contexts, and research questions—ranging from Pleistocene hunters to historic mining. Search areas in the state are dauntingly vast, but with great potential for new discoveries. Efficient approaches to explore and identify past contexts are thus important. In spite of this, the value of geophysics as an ...

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Evolution in Project Workflow – Is High Definition Survey the Missing Link? There is a major shift occurring in the preservation and building industry today. It was only 30 years ago that architects and engineers where designing ...

Archaeologists have been using aerial photography and satellite imagery to locate and document large, high-contrast archaeological features since inception. But, what about smaller, low-contrast features utilized by past humans such as root patches and terrace cobble deposits?

A variety of materials and methods have been used to preserve ceramic vessels. Many have proven successful, while others are damaging. Monitoring and evaluation of past treatments is a documented research priority in the conservation field. The Arizona State Museum (ASM) has examined, recorded and analyzed the performance of past treatments on ...

This report details work done to enhance the understanding of Tribal concerns and interests regarding the conservation of rock image cultural heritage sites.  The work pertains to Tribes located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.  The study included research into past treatments at these sites and a survey of various Tribal groups to develop ...

Late nineteenth and early twentieth century sites are commonly encountered during archaeological surveys in the United States.

This project involved developing a new method for using the chemical content of freshwater mussel shell as a means of sourcing prehistoric, shell-tempered pottery and shell artifacts to their places of origin. By extension, this means that prehistoric trade and exchange networks can be mapped out. Because each waterway is chemically different to some extent, ...

Many materials used in the storage and display of museum objects are potentially corrosive and should not be used in the vicinity of specific metals. The ‘Oddy test’ is the procedure used in most museums to assess the suitability of such materials. However, there have been reports in the literature of problems with reproducibility and ...

In 1998, NCPTT partially funded a research project that involved an investigation of rock paintings in the Lower Pecos River area of Texas.  Rock Art Research, the journal of the Australian Rock Art Research Association (AURA) and the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), communicated results which were published by Elmo J. Mawk and ...

Eric Shindelholz, formerly The Mariners’ Museum, successfully concluded his grant research and submitted his final deliverables regarding his project to investigate the use of emerging technologies for drying waterlogged archeological wood artifacts.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center.

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Documenting National and World Heritage Sites: the Need to Integrate Digital Documentation and 3D Scanning with Traditional Hand Measuring Techniques For the past fifteen years, digital documentation technology of historic sites and resources has developed into a ...

The grant allowed for documentation of traditional language, foods, music and the cultural landscapes associated with the Timbisha Shoshone people in their aboriginal territories.

Download this episode as an mp3 or Subscribe via iTunes Kevin Ammons: Welcome to the Preservation Technology Podcast, the show that brings you the people and projects that are bringing innovation to preservation. I’m Kevin Ammons, with the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. Today we join Catherine Cooper as she speaks ...

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training and the Cane River Creole National Historical Park will be conducting the third in a series of workshops this summer related to disaster preparedness and response for museum collections. The Lower Mississippi River Delta Region is frequently threatened by natural disasters including hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. It is important for the ...

The resulting images constitute a database for three-dimensional modeling and analysis, museum exhibits, video production, and broadcast journalism.

Today we join NCPTT’s David Morgan as he speaks to Graeme Earl of the University of South Hampton in the UK about digital survey methods in archeology and “born digital” records. Download Episode 9 as an mp3 or subscribe via iTunes.

In this episode of the Preservation Technology Podcast, Kit Arrington, digital library specialist at the Library of Congress, discusses how the Library of Congress digitizes and shares documents online for longterm public access.

Devil’s Tower National Monument rises 1000 feet out of the surrounding landscape into the air.  Known by many names, the tower was the first monument added by the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906 and became our first national monument.  Many different experts have combined their knowledge to determine the history of Devil’s Tower. ...

2018-02 University of Akron A multidisciplinary research team at The University of Akron in collaboration with Veris Technologies (Salina, Kansas) completed a successful pilot study using visible light and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to map and characterize the chemical composition of in situ subsurface archaeological features, without excavation, at three Native American sites in Kansas. Fieldwork took ...

Prehistoric Hopewellian peoples of Ohio (ca. 150 B.C. – A.D. 400) produced fine geometric and representational art that played central roles in their social organization and religious practices.

This project has advanced a geophysical approach for identifying buried archaeological sites that combines recently developed down-hole magnetic capabilities with laboratory soil magnetic techniques. Down-hole magnetic susceptibility measurements allow the effective location of paleosols while soil magnetic studies are used to evaluate whether an associated human occupation is likely. This combined geophysical approach ...

Paul Whitmore, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Art Conservation Research Center (ACRC), has developed a portable device that can be used to determine how exposure to visible light and ultraviolet (UV) rays affect the colors on a work of art, providing vital information that can be used to better preserve the artwork.

NCPTT’s Curtis Deselles, a graduate student in the Masters of Heritage Resources program at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, is developing a handheld metal tester using eddy current technology.

In 2003, the Infrared and Raman Users Group received NCPTT support to develop and implement an online collaborative database and bibliography of high quality infrared reference spectra. Currently, the database contains over 1250 spectra of oils, waxes, natural and synthetic resins, dyes, pigments, proteins, gums, and minerals.

This report discusses the feasibility and processes necessary to utilize photogrammetric techniques and photogrammetric software in order to be able to gather metric data from softcopy three-dimensional images.

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Designing the LiDAR Mission for Industrial Heritage: Cooperation Across the Fields Heritage managers and digital documentarians may observe the same subject, but observe it through a contrasting set of filters. The focus of this paper is to ...

Like archeological information on paper, the archeological information we get in digital form must be both appropriate and trustworthy. The forms we can obtain must be the right ones for the job — cost effective and usable. At the same time, what we receive — capta, information, knowledge or summary — must be dependable, resulting ...

What do the hottest temperature ever recorded on earth, the lowest elevation in North America, and archaeology have in common? The answer is they all occur inside of Death Valley National Park.   Death Valley National Park has over 2,000 archaeological sites that cover 10,000 years of human history.  Archaeological sites include house circles, habitation ...

Download this episode as an mp3 or Subscribe via iTunes   Ammons:    Welcome to the Preservation Technology Podcast; the show that brings you the people and projects that are advancing the future of America’s heritage. I’m Kevin Ammons with the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. In this podcast we join NCPTT’s Jason ...

NCPTT staff recently presented the results of initial research on the applicability of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to copper artifact elemental composition studies at the 56th annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Cumberland Island is Georgia’s largest and southernmost barrier island. Home to forests, marches, and pristine beaches, Cumberland Island tells the stories of Natives, missionaries, enslaved African Americans, and wealthy industrialists from the island’s past. Visitors to the park must take a ferry ride from the mainland to the island. Once on the island, they can enjoy ...

The National Park Service has announced a job opening at the GS-0170/0808-11/12 level. The cultural resource program manager position is located at the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park in Hagerstown, Maryland. Preserving America’s colorful Canal era and transportation history, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park is 184.5 miles of adventure. Originally, the C&O ...

In 2006-07, cultural resources investigations were undertaken at the Melrose Plantation site (16NA591), Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. This work was done in relation to proposed site grading undertaken to improve drainage around two historic structures, Yucca and African houses. the archaeological investigations included systematic shovel testing, deep auger borings, and the excavation of three 1-m-square test ...

This database of micrographs of textile fibers acquired through the use of multiple microscopic techniques contains 145 collections with 1404 individual files, and requires 23GB of storage space. Each file contains a high resolution image with text fields that delineate image location and size, image collection information, microscopy technique and details of the features presented ...

Montana Preservation Alliance proposes to create a digital archive of the rich cultural landscape that is the Tongue River Valley.

ICCROM, in conjunction with the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, will present a course on managing and reducing risks to cultural heritage. The course is designed for a maximum of 30 participants and is targeted to conservators, architects, archeologists, archivists, conservation scientists, collection managers, registrars, curators (in museums, archives, historic houses), ...

This manual is meant to help the operator through the measurement of watercraft using the Sokkia total station. The vessels to be measured can vary in size from small boats to full sized ships.

A Controlled Archaeological Test Site (CATS) facility has been constructed in Champaign, Illinois, by the Cultural Resources Research Center at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, with funding provided by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. The test site will be utilized for research and training with geophysical applications ...

The volume contains papers and stories presented at the symposium Contaminated Collections: Preservation, Access and Use held at the National conservation Training Center in shepherdstown, West Virginia on 6 – 9 April 2001. The conference was hosted by the society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) ...

Conservation Scientist for a Day One day event offered July 30, 2013 to students who have finished the 8th grade or those who participated in the 2013 NCPTT Robot Camp. $10 per person limited to 25 students STUDENTS WILL INVESTIGATE AUTHENIC POTTERY SHARDS AND PARTICIPATE IN HANDS-ON EXPERIMENTS! Instructors: Curtis Desselles, Carol Chin, Jason, Church, Mary Striegel

This research report assesses the structural decay of nine silicified fossil stumps on the Petrified Forest Loop at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in central Colorado, and evaluates the use of mechanical pinning as a remedial conservation treatment. Condition assessment was established through an integrated review of archival documents related to the site’s excavation and display ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Conservation and H?RTI at The Metropolitan Museum of Art In the winter of 2010, the Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted a four?day intensive workshop on Highlight?based Reflectance Transformation Imaging ...

This report represents the “end of the beginning” of a multi-year project to computerize archaeological and historical site files for the state of Arizona.

This work attempts to improve understanding of archaeological magnetism, its causes, and how it may be measured to improve interpretations of the magnetic record and the cultural past. It examines four research foci using data gathered at the Double Ditch and Fort Clark State Historic Sites, in North Dakota, and a variety of instruments. (1) The utility ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Close Range Photogrammetry vs. 3D Scanning for Archaeological Documentation The proliferation of terrestrial laser scanners on the market over the past few years has been accompanied by a rapid adoption of the technology by archaeologists.  This increased archaeological use ...

The National Park Service developed vision, goals and a strategy for more efficient and innovative opportunities to collaboratively commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War and anniversaries of the civil rights movement. We promote these anniversaries in ways to create awareness about our American history as part of a continuum and interpret stories from multiple ...

Jason Church and David W. Morgan represented NCPTT at the Louisiana Preservation Alliance annual meeting, held May 5, 2007 in Monroe, Louisiana.

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Chris McDougal:   I’m honored to be here today. Before presenting my findings, I would like to start off with a quote from Fleet Admiral Nimitz. During a speech in 1946, he said, “At the ...

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is home to Chaco Canyon. For over 100 years, this region has been home to many archaeological finds. Archaeologists and visitors alike have found tens of thousands are artifacts over the years. These finds include prehistoric vessels, stone and bone tools, and matting and sandals. Projectile points, hammers and mauls, ...

Efforts to save Casa Grande Ruins date back to the late 1800s. Archeologists and others made trips to the ruins to restore and repair them. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison declared the area the first federal prehistoric and cultural reservation. In 1918, The ruins became Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Every 2 years, a new ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Capturing, Document, and Mapping the Digital Cultural Object Using Spectral Imaging Advanced digital spectral imaging enables the ability to create accurate digital renderings of cultural heritage materials, generating a new “digital cultural object” with enhanced access to ...

Canyon de Chelly National Park is a unique park in the national park system.  It is the only joint venture between the NPS and another group. The park is located completely on Navajo land. Even a few families live down in the canyon. The Navajo Nation and the National Park Service work together to manage ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. William Heidner:   The year 1942 found America at war, even though the rest of the world had been at war for over two years or more. Recovering from the shock of the attack on ...

Abstract Deadline: EXTENDED February 25, 2020. June 2-4, 2020 Cape Canaveral, Florida Join us in Cape Canaveral, Florida for a symposium exploring preservation of Space Race resources!  The NPS National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) is partnering with the US Air Force Space and Missile Museum Foundation to host the three-day symposium, which will bring ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Best Practices for Digital Documentation by Ekaterini Vlahos and Mike Nulty Through the HABS/HAER/HALS programs the Secretary of the Interior has established Standards and Guidelines for Documentation and acceptability for inclusion in the Heritage Documentation Programs collections ...

For sixteen years, Bent’s Old Fort was the center of the St. Vrain Company’s trade empire.  It was the only permanent white settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican Settlements.  Unfortunately, Bent’s Old Fort’s occupants abandoned it in 1849 due to disaster and disease.  In 1976, archaeological excavations were used along ...

Bandelier National Monument is one of many sites that was home to the Anasazi people. Archeologists have found many different artifacts in the area that have lead to a greater understanding of the culture and the homes they lived in. Plans are underway to expand the area that archeologists have surveyed in order to provide ...

Badlands National Park has revealed the past to park service archeologists. Very little is known about the region. National Park Service archeologists have used discoveries such as bison bone and other artifacts to reveal more information. Over 300 sites have been discovered with the oldest dating to more than 12,000 years ago. For more information ...

Aztec Ruins National Monument is the largest Ancestral Pueblo community in the Animas River valley. Archeologists have excavated several sites within the monument. They have discovered many similarities to the Chaco Canyon people. To take a virtual tour of the different sites, check out this link. To learn more about the park or to ask ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Automated Classification of Surface Texture for Photographic Paper Surface texture is a vital attribute defining the appearance of a photographic print.  Texture impacts tonal range, rendering of detail, reflectance and conveys subtle qualitative information about the aesthetic ...

The adaptation of existing imaging sonars for use on underwater sites will have widespread applicability to the nation’s thousands of submerged archaeological sites located in turbid waters that make detailed archaeological documentation impractical. LCMM has prototyped the feasibility and methodologies for this technology using a Blue View DF900-2250 Dual Frequency Miniature Multibeam Imaging System on ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. Documentation to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards: Assessing the Value of Laser Scan Data The Heritage Documentation Programs consider High-Definition Surveying (HDS) to be a significant tool, one of many it employs in the survey of ...

Arkansas Post National Memorial marks the site of “Post de Arkansae,” the first semi-permanent French settlement in the Mississippi River Valley. Henri de Tonti established the post in 1686 as a trading post at the Quapaw village of Osotouy. Throughout the years, the post served with strategic importance for the French, Spanish, American, and Confederate military. After becoming part ...

The workshop focused on oral tradition and archeological interpretation and the role of Native Americans in archeology.

The proceedings for Are We There Yet: Preservation of Roadside Architecture and Attractions is available for purchase via PayPal, courtesy of the Friends of NCPTT. The proceedings includes seventeen select papers presented at the Are We There Yet: Preservation of Roadside Architecture and Attractions Symposium, held April 10-12, 2018 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The symposium focused on the ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. Archive of Digital Data for HABS, HAER, and HALS The NPS creates a variety of documents and records, such as inventory and monitoring plans, drawings, photographs, and conservation treatment records, to assist in the planning, management and ...

The Presidio Trust and NCPTT have agreed to jointly promote NCPTT’s “Prospection in Depth 2008,” a workshop that focuses on cutting-edge applications of geographic information systems and geophysical technologies for identifying archeological sites and site features.

May 22-28, 2016 San Antonio’s city archeologist has determined that there were two missions in the town before the Alamo. The first site has been dated to 1718. Pottery, beads, and nails have been recovered to help Kay Hindes find the mission’s first site. For more information, click on the picture above. New archeological research out of ...

Project The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training announces three internships for a period of six months to work on the Mississippi River Delta Archaeological Mitigation project. This project is a collaboration between NCPTT, the Cane River Creole National Historical Park, the Louisiana Public Archaeology Lab at UL Lafayette and the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, ...

New methods could speed archeological documentation time by 60 percent

Current Archaeological Prospection Advances for Non-Destructive Investigations in the 21st Century. There is a registration charge of $475.00

Archeological Modeling Workshop

A two-and-a-half day work- shop on the application of modeling and management of archeological resources. The workshop will include a tour of Blue Waters Super Computing facility.

The Archaeological Survey Technologies, Data Integration, and Applications (ASTDA) Workshop and Seminar introduced new methods for the integration and visualization of noninvasive geophysical and 3D laser scanning survey methods as a tool for historic site preservation and management. The Workshop and Seminar were hosted at the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site in Cambridge, MA. The ...

Good morning.  My name is Tad Britt.  I’m Chief of Archaeology and Collections for the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, and today I’d like to talk about archaeological sites after disasters, documentation, and planning. Before we get started, I’d like to tell about NCPTT’s mission.  NCPTT advances the application of science and technology to ...

Archaeological sites are being lost or significantly degraded due to natural and cultural impacts that have greatest effect upon exposed or unconsolidated surfaces.

On April 26th, one day in advance of the Society for American Archaeology meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, NCPTT hosted the second meeting of the Archeological Preservation Technology Research Consortium.

New procedures and protocols were developed relying primarily on previous studies as well as successes achieved throughout the research process. The resulting protocols as well as results are therefore in need of further refinement, however they have provided the proof of concept necessary to continue and expand research into field testing and various wall configurations.

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Applications of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) in a Fine Arts Museum: Examination, Documentation, and Beyond In 2006, the Worcester Art Museum collaborated with Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) to develop reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) as a viable examination ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Application of Current 3D and Pseudo-3D Imaging for Conservation Melvin Wachowiak, Senior Conservator E. Keats Webb, Digital Imaging Specialist Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, Washington D.C. Conservation professionals have been aware of modern methods of 3D digitization, but a comprehensive guide ...

In 2004, NCPTT supported the Friends of Mobile with funding to enable the application of two geophysical survey methods: electrical resistance and ground penetrating radar. Building on past research, a goal of the project was comparing the applicability of five remote sensing methods through ground truthing test excavations.

In the video, the hull of the Civil War warship USS Monitor is recreated digitally. It is then put in simulated physics environments where different aspects of its operation can be studied.

A two-year project funded by NCPTT implemented the use of a modern bioanalytical technique (Peptide Mass Fingerprinting-PMF-described below) to identify collagen-based materials in objects at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and in collaboration with the Harvard Art Museums and the FAS Division of Science proposed a  proof-of-concept project to demonstrate PMF could corroborate or replace ...

Anna Johnson, a high-school junior at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, took NCPTT research to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, Atlanta, Ga. on May 11-16.

Cane River National Heritage Area, Inc. (CRNHA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Grand Ecore Visitors Center (GEVC) will exhibit Ancient Mounds and Artifacts: Durable Reflections of Transitory Societies. This Irene W. and C.B. Pennington and Louisiana Board of Regents funded traveling exhibit, created by Dr. Rebecca Saunders, Louisiana State University Museum of Natural ...

This report details a project that built a video game module and evaluated its potential as a tool for preservation training and outreach. The module was developed within an existing game platform Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion. By using an existing game for the mod/prototype, the project was able to focus on creating multiple game narratives and ...

A new preservation technique involving the use of supercritical fluids to dry waterlogged archaeological wood will be investigated and compared to current preservation treatments.

This study evaluates the physical effects of drying waterlogged archaeological wood using supercritical carbon dioxide as compared to air drying and the polyethlene gylcol (PEG)/freeze drying method.

Collecting and analyzing spatially defined data is a core component of archaeological research and has become increasingly effective with GPS, mapping and GIS hardware and software.

African Burial Ground National Monument was created after construction of a government office building revealed the burial ground of thousands of free and enslaved African Americans. Archeologists helped excavate every individual and attempt to make some sort of identification. Each individual was them reburied at the site. For more information about the archeological work done ...

New Philadelphia, Illinois was the first town platted and legally registered by an African American in the United States. Founded by Frank McWorter, a former slave, in 1836, this town grew as a demographically integrated community through the late nineteenth century. The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) awarded funding of $14,800 to ...

This report outlines the efforts of the SHPO offices of New Mexico and Wyoming to implement a common cultural resource database design.

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Advances in Computational Photograph Techniques for Cultural, Historic, and Natural History Materials This talk presents advances in robust new imaging tools from the emerging science known as Computational Photography. The common feature of the computational photography imaging ...

NCPTT has responded to the emerging need for advanced technology-based archaeology training with “Prospection in Depth,” a training series that will be held Sept. 16-20 in partnership with the Presidio Trust at the site of El Presidio de San Francisco.

Revisiting Acryloid B-72®/Paraloid™ B-72 and Barrier Numbering: A Pilot Study and Suggested Solutions for Archaeological Museum Collections    This report provides the final results of the collaborative study of the acrylic resin Acryloid B-72®/Paraloid™ B-72 for barrier coat numberings conducted by the National Park Service’s (NPS) Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC), and the Institute for the Preservation of ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Alexander MacKenzie:    Thanks very much for having me. Thanks for putting this together. I’m grateful to be here and talk about Springfield Armory. I’ve been there for half of my life now, literally. And ...

Over 400 sources of information on GIS applications in archaeology have either been published or have been presented at conferences.   The objective of “A Review of Recent Advances in GIS Applications for Archaeology” is to provide a comprehensive overview of these data sources and review the current status of the use of GIS technology to ...

The “Prospection in Depth” course, currently in its second iteration, offers a new approach to archaeological pedagogy, incorporating multiple geophysical techniques, hands-on equipment use, and data collection at genuine archaeological sites.

prototype instrument developed for archaeological application logs volume magnetic susceptibility down a small-diameter (ca. 2.2 cm) core-hole made with a push-tube corer. Measurements can be made rapidly, approximately 10 times faster than collecting samples either by coring or from an exposed section, to depths of 1.6 m below the surface.

In 2006 the White House launched Preserve America. Parallel to this, on a much tinier scale, was an event on the use of surveillance equipment for remote archaeological site surveillance. In its own humble fashion this little cog actually helps turn the enormous Preserve America wheel.

Can chemistry lead to better understanding of archeological objects?  Ask Dr. Evan Peacock from the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University.  With funding from NCPTT, Peacock is using an analytical technique called Laser Ablation-inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analyzing spoons made of freshwater mussel shell.  Spoons like these were used to smooth pottery ...

Since raising the H.L. Hunley submarine (1863) from the seabed in 2000, the project has incorporated 3D technologies including laser scanning, patterned light scanning, Vulcan point system, and computer modeling. Archaeologists developed the use of 3D technologies primarily for site plan development and artifact documentation. As the project progressed, conservators found other applications for the ...

In this edition of the Preservation Technology Podcast, NCPTT’s Jeff Guin speaks with Bernard Frischer about 3D digital documentation of historic resources and the project, “Rome Reborn.”

3D Documentation and Visualization Techniques for Cultural Resources and Museum Collections National parks are often touted a physical laboratories for discovery and research, but they are also rich troves of cultural heritage that shape national park system policies and management strategies across the United States. This project meets national needs in historic preservation by undertaking research ...

Cultural Heritage Imaging developed a comprehensive training program for 3D digital rock art documentation and preservation, based on state-of-the-art computational photography techniques that are emerging as the next generation of cultural heritage tools for use both in the field and in museums.

In this edition of the Preservation Technology Podcast, we’ll meet Carla Schroer of Cultural Heritage Imaging. The non-profit organization recently used a PTT Grant to hold a workshop on 3D digital rock art documentation and preservation.

July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio of San Francisco, California NCPTT in conjunction with the Presidio Trust and the Friends of NCPTT will host a three day summit on digital documentation for the preservation of cultural heritage. The program features two days of contributed papers and a poster session, followed by a third day of field ...

This poster was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. 3D Digital Documentation of Cultural Resources in Southern Arizona National Parks The National Park Service Southern Arizona (SOAR) group consists of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Memorial, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, ...

This poster was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. See Poster full detail and size   3D Data Recordation and Immersive Visualization: Considerations for Creative Mitigation Practices The proposed presentation approaches the potential of 3d data collection and analysis in an immersive 3d visualization system, emphasizing digital format ...

  Dr. Robert Z. Selden, Jr. received a grant from NCPTT in 2014. With this grant, Selden used 3D preservation, documentation, and geometric morphometrics on intact Caddo NAGPRA vessels that were in the Turner Collection at Stephen F. Austin State University. He has since expanded the program to artifacts curated at Northwestern State University of Louisiana.   With ...

Tidelines, residual damage on paper at a former wet/dry boundary, are produced by environmental wetting and some cleaning treatments.  They interfere with the appreciation of historical artifacts and weaken paper, predisposing it to further damage. In this project, scientists at Dartmouth College, the Library of Congress, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art drew on a ...

Notice of 2020 Funding Opportunity The Preservation Technology and Training (PTT) Grants program provides funding for innovative research that develops new technologies or adapts existing technologies to preserve cultural resources. Grant recipients undertake innovative research and produce technical reports which respond to national needs in the field of historic preservation. Since the inception of the grants program ...

This is a pre-recorded webinar featuring moderator Steve Pine with presenters Dan Riley, Jason Church, and Melody Gayeski. All materials used by our presenters will be available for download. Steve Pine is Senior Conservator of Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. He has assisted in recovery assessments and cleanup of public and private ...

2017 Internships

It’s more than just a job… it’s your future. Get hands-on experience and build your resume while preserving the history of our country. Summer internships at NCPTT provide students and recent graduates an opportunity to undertake laboratory or field research in archeology, architecture, engineering, collections management, historic landscapes, and materials science. What do interns do? Interns work in ...

NCPTT and the University of West Florida will host the Southeast Cemetery Monument Conservation Workshop on October 23-25 at St. Michaels Cemetery in Pensacola, Fla.

More than $165,000 will fund research to protect America’s historic legacy as part of the National Center for Preservation Technology & Training’s PTT Grants program.

NCPTT held its third annual workshop on archeological prospection Sept. 16-20, 2008 at the historic Presidio in San Francisco.

This is a pre-recorded webinar featuring moderator Steve Pine with presenters Dan Riley, Jason Church, and Melody Gayeski. All materials used by our presenters will be available for download. Steve Pine is Senior Conservator of Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. He has assisted in recovery assessments and cleanup of public and private ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Rick Minor:  There we go. So this morning we heard these really excellent presentations on research that is pretty far along. This is going to be a real contrast, because this represents basically the first ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Paula L. Bryant:  Over the past few years, members of the Prairie Research Institute, which is comprised of five state surveys, including the Illinois state archaeological survey, have partnered with the Cook County Forest Preserve ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Josephina Maldonado:  So good morning everyone. My name is Josephina Maldonado. I am a senior conservation tech with Conservation Solutions, a division of Evergreen Architectural Arts. So I’ll be referring to them as Evergreen from ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Janet Folkerts:   Okay. Hello, everyone. Thank you for giving me a chance to be here today. My name is Janet Folkerts, like she said, and I work for the National Park Service for the ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Chris McDougal:   I’m honored to be here today. Before presenting my findings, I would like to start off with a quote from Fleet Admiral Nimitz. During a speech in 1946, he said, “At the ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX.   Susan Edwards:   Everybody. Jeff and I are delighted to be here. I wore heels. Anyway. We have a tale about a plane to tell you this morning. It’s a plane with two stories. The ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. William Heidner:   The year 1942 found America at war, even though the rest of the world had been at war for over two years or more. Recovering from the shock of the attack on ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Blair Atcheson:     I am Blair Atcheson with the Naval History and Heritage Command Underwater Archeology Branch, NHHC for short because that’s a mouthful. Myself along with Dr. Richard Hulver, NHHC’s lead historian on Indianapolis, have ...

This presentation is part of the Preserving U.S. Military Heritage: World War II to the Cold War, June 4-6, 2019, Fredericksburg, TX. Alexander MacKenzie:    Thanks very much for having me. Thanks for putting this together. I’m grateful to be here and talk about Springfield Armory. I’ve been there for half of my life now, literally. And ...

This presentation is part of the International Cemetery Preservation Summit, April 8-10, 2014 Niagara Falls, NY. Finding Avondale: Remote Sensing for an Unmarked Cemetery in Difficult Subsurface Conditions by Hugh B. Matternes and Valerie Davis Hugh: Good morning, I’m hoping you’ll learn not only from the results we have here but some of the mistakes we made ...

Hello, my name is Lindsey Cochran from the University of Tennessee. I’m also with the NCPTT. I was a summer intern in 2014 for Tad Britt in Archeology and Collections. My project this summer was to create predictive modeling for the DEVA Project or Death Valley National Park. My goal was to identify and then ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Conservation and H?RTI at The Metropolitan Museum of Art In the winter of 2010, the Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted a four?day intensive workshop on Highlight?based Reflectance Transformation Imaging ...

Good morning.  My name is Tad Britt.  I’m Chief of Archaeology and Collections for the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, and today I’d like to talk about archaeological sites after disasters, documentation, and planning. Before we get started, I’d like to tell about NCPTT’s mission.  NCPTT advances the application of science and technology to ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. Documentation to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards: Assessing the Value of Laser Scan Data The Heritage Documentation Programs consider High-Definition Surveying (HDS) to be a significant tool, one of many it employs in the survey of ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. Archive of Digital Data for HABS, HAER, and HALS The NPS creates a variety of documents and records, such as inventory and monitoring plans, drawings, photographs, and conservation treatment records, to assist in the planning, management and ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Application of Current 3D and Pseudo-3D Imaging for Conservation Melvin Wachowiak, Senior Conservator E. Keats Webb, Digital Imaging Specialist Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, Washington D.C. Conservation professionals have been aware of modern methods of 3D digitization, but a comprehensive guide ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Applications of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) in a Fine Arts Museum: Examination, Documentation, and Beyond In 2006, the Worcester Art Museum collaborated with Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) to develop reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) as a viable examination ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Automated Classification of Surface Texture for Photographic Paper Surface texture is a vital attribute defining the appearance of a photographic print.  Texture impacts tonal range, rendering of detail, reflectance and conveys subtle qualitative information about the aesthetic ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Documenting National and World Heritage Sites: the Need to Integrate Digital Documentation and 3D Scanning with Traditional Hand Measuring Techniques For the past fifteen years, digital documentation technology of historic sites and resources has developed into a ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Advances in Computational Photograph Techniques for Cultural, Historic, and Natural History Materials This talk presents advances in robust new imaging tools from the emerging science known as Computational Photography. The common feature of the computational photography imaging ...

This poster was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. See Poster full detail and size   3D Data Recordation and Immersive Visualization: Considerations for Creative Mitigation Practices The proposed presentation approaches the potential of 3d data collection and analysis in an immersive 3d visualization system, emphasizing digital format ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Best Practices for Digital Documentation by Ekaterini Vlahos and Mike Nulty Through the HABS/HAER/HALS programs the Secretary of the Interior has established Standards and Guidelines for Documentation and acceptability for inclusion in the Heritage Documentation Programs collections ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Capturing, Document, and Mapping the Digital Cultural Object Using Spectral Imaging Advanced digital spectral imaging enables the ability to create accurate digital renderings of cultural heritage materials, generating a new “digital cultural object” with enhanced access to ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Designing the LiDAR Mission for Industrial Heritage: Cooperation Across the Fields Heritage managers and digital documentarians may observe the same subject, but observe it through a contrasting set of filters. The focus of this paper is to ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA Close Range Photogrammetry vs. 3D Scanning for Archaeological Documentation The proliferation of terrestrial laser scanners on the market over the past few years has been accompanied by a rapid adoption of the technology by archaeologists.  This increased archaeological use ...

This presentation was presented as the keynote address for the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012, Presidio, San Francisco, CA.   Rocket Science and 3D Analyses in the Preservation of Artistic and Historic Works More than sixty years ago development began on the nuclear-propelled ORION Spaceship destined for a manned mission to the planet Saturn. This ...

This lecture was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA   Evolution in Project Workflow – Is High Definition Survey the Missing Link? There is a major shift occurring in the preservation and building industry today. It was only 30 years ago that architects and engineers where designing ...

Since raising the H.L. Hunley submarine (1863) from the seabed in 2000, the project has incorporated 3D technologies including laser scanning, patterned light scanning, Vulcan point system, and computer modeling. Archaeologists developed the use of 3D technologies primarily for site plan development and artifact documentation. As the project progressed, conservators found other applications for the ...

This poster was presented at the 3D Digital Documentation Summit held July 10-12, 2012 at the Presidio, San Fransisco, CA. 3D Digital Documentation of Cultural Resources in Southern Arizona National Parks The National Park Service Southern Arizona (SOAR) group consists of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Memorial, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, ...

Existing conditions documentation of archaeological structures can be cut by 60% and can improve the accuracy and fidelity of the documentation by using scanning technology. This would optimize valuable human and financial resources for archaeologist and preservation specialist working to save our ‘Vanishing Treasures’.

Neville Agnew of the Getty Conservation Institute speaks about the conservation of the hominid footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania. He lists three primary conservation topics that the general public will care about: Egyptology, dinosaurs, and human ancestry.

In the video, the hull of the Civil War warship USS Monitor is recreated digitally. It is then put in simulated physics environments where different aspects of its operation can be studied.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center.

Funded by NCPTT, Montana Public Television has produced a series of videos that highlights the nation’s underwater archeological treasures and features the preservation work of the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.