Technological Advances in the Field? Using a Tablet in a Remote Field Setting

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

As archaeologists, we can be slow to adopt new technology in the field. Sensitive documents such as field notes and maps are often still done by hand for fear of data loss. Working in remote field settings with limited or no electricity can amplify this concern. This case study examines the use of an iPad for recording field notes, creating maps, and methods to back up all these data while without electricity. After using a tablet successfully in the first field season (2019), we collected additional data during the second field season (2022) and implemented additional protective methods to back up information. Lacking traditional electricity, we had access to portable solar panels and small battery packs to power both iPads and iPhones. While these methods were employed using Apple products, they also could be employed using Android products. Being able to annotate quick pictures in the field helped tremendously when trying to reconstruct certain contexts when we returned to the lab. Ultimately, we would recommend these methods be adopted broadly as the reduction in time spent both collecting data in the field and postprocessing data permitted researchers to spend more of the limited field time excavating, thus increasing overall productivity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37273.0