Creating a Digital Reference Collection for the La Quemada-Malpaso Valley Archaeological Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ideas, Ethical Ideals, and Museum Practice in North American Archaeological Collections" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

A long-running project in West Mexico, the La Quemada-Malpaso Valley Archaeological Project (LQ-MVAP) has entered the final stage of the data life cycle with a shift from long-term curation and analysis of the physical materials to an open-access digital archive with training guides for data reuse by future researchers. In this paper, we describe our NEH-funded collaboration with the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) to create the LQ-MVAP Digital Reference Collection (DRC), which will allow users to search images, attribute data, reports, and field notes for information about specific artifact classes, chronological periods, or intrasite locations, as well as explore queries designed around project themes such as human-environmental interactions, craft production, exchange, and ritual practice. We also discuss the varied ethical considerations that arise from the digital curation of a multi-decadal and international project, as there are constraints to be addressed regarding the authority to control and disseminate online datasets and images. A bilingual web portal for the LQ-MVAP DRC will provide digital enhancements for a forthcoming edited volume and educational resources for all ages to engage the public in a dialog about this important archaeological site and its significance to local and descendant communities in Mexico and around the world.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ideas, Ethical Ideals, and Museum Practice in North American Archaeological Collections   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39179.0