1st SHA pXRF Symposium Participants, 2nd SHA pXRF Symposium Session
Participants, 1st SAA pXRF Symposium Session Participants and other
Interested Parties:
Thank YOU, ALL for the flood of interest shown in the 1st SHA pXRF Symposium
in Amelia Island Florida, the 2nd SHA pXRF Symposium in Austin Texas and
the upcoming 1st SAA pXRF Symposium in Sacramento California March 30-April
3rd. We appreciate the fact that many of you have indicated that you would
like to have the Proceedings of the various symposia published in some
peer-reviewed form.
Dr. Claudia Brackett of California State University-Stanislaus and the
University of the Pacific and Mr. Dennis Piechota of the Fiske Laboratory of
the University of Massachusetts agreed to act as Discussants for the 2nd
SHA pXRF Symposium and Dr. Robert Tykot of the University of South Florida
and Ms. Vanessa Muros of UCLA\Getty Conservation have agreed to act as
Discussants for the 1st SAA Symposium.
We NOW have over 18 presentations from the 1st and 2nd SHA pXRF Symposia
and 11 presentations scheduled for the 1st SAA pXRF Symposium. These
presentations are on a wide variety of topics dealing with field and
laboratory pXRF and other portable\laboratory instrumentation studies of
prehistoric, historic and classical sites from around the world. Together,
these symposia will TRULY reflect the growth of these technologies in
archaeology. In addition, the 2011 SAA Conference in Sacramento will have 4
other sessions that have pXRF presentations-a total of over 50 pXRF
presentations.
WOW!!! What a growth in the use of this technology since the pioneering SHA
Archaeochemical session chaired by Dr. Garret Fesler in Sacramento in 2006!
Those of you presenting at the 1st SAA pXRF Symposium at Sacramento should
get digital copies of YOUR presentations in to Dr. Tykot and Ms. Muros by
March 25th OR EARLIER!!!
IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO ATTEND IN PERSON, CONSIDER SENDING AN ANNOTATED
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION OR A RECORDED "IN PERSON" VIDEO PRESENTATION OF YOUR
PRESENTATION THAT WILL RUN IN THE ALLOTTED TIME. THIS WORKED VERY WELL AT
THE 2ND pXRF SYMPOSIUM IN AUSTIN.
With growth of use of pXRF technology has come questions as to how to
adequately present the presentations in a format that would allow for color
reproduction, display of mapped data and associated graphics, easy of data
retrieval while keeping the cost of acquisition and reproduction low while
still allowing for expansion of the presentation to include new figures,
references and expanded test sections that we not able to be presented in
the short 15-20 minute format of the conference presentation.
What Dr. Brackett and I have come up with is a variant on the Wondjina
Research Institute\Country Chemist Archaeochemical Workshop CDs that many of
you are familiar with. In essence, we are proposing as the Co-Organizers of
these conferences to solicit from each of the presenters digital files of
the annotated Powerpoint or DVD presentations that may be produced and
distributed by some organization (i.e. SHA, SAS, ISA etc.) at a modest cost
(we are thinking $5.00 per CD\DVD to cover reproduction costs) and would be
peer reviewed like any other publication. In this format the presentations
would be easy to download and print "on demand" and yet affordable to
students. The advantage of this format would be the inclusion of reference
materials, graphics and any interactive subprograms within the
presentation that allow for animation-all of which are very memory intensive
and are sometimes beyond the memory capacity of websites or being downloaded
from websites. This format would allow the running of the CD\DVD material
in an annotated "slide show" format that would preserve the intent of the
original presentation and, yet, be easily available to reviewers and easy to
produce and distribute to students and professionals at a low cost.
Towards this end and as an example of what we have in mind, I have attached
a typical, self-running, annotated presentation by Dr. Luis Barba, Dr.
Claudia Brackett, Mr. Richard Lundin, Mr. Agustin Ortiz and Mr. Martin
Terreros at the 2006 SAA Conference In Vancouver. Alternately, the CD\DVD
format can easily allow for a complete "in person" presentation like the one
that Ricardo Fernandes gave remotely at the 2nd SHA pXRF Conference in
January. If this format is successful in getting to the students and
professionals the volume of information that is coming out from this
technology, then Dr. Brackett and I have done our job of getting this
technology to archaeologists to USE, PRODUCTIVELY.
Remember, as in past SHA Conferences, Dr. Brackett and I will presenting
the 1-2 day SHA Archaeochemical Workshop at Baltimore Maryland in 2012.
This workshop will be broken up into several modules that will not only
emphasize archaeochemical training but will include "hands on" use of the
various instruments in both laboratory and field setting. Dr. Brackett and
I have been thinking over the past year that the archaeochemical education
process should be "modulized" with an introductory module similar to the
Archaeochemical Workshop that we currently do for almost ALL practicing, CRM
archaeologists, academics and students
Then, a module on how to use ALL of the major, pXRF instruments that are
currently being used in the field and laboratory, a module on how to set up
the protocols and techniques for both laboratory and field surveys, a
field\laboratory module for actual, "hands on" work with the instruments
and, finally, a module for reducing and interpreting the data. This is what
I have routinely done in doing geophysical and geochemical programs and
seems to work quite well for the teaching of archaeogeophysical technologies
and procedures at the University of Bradford in the UK, the Universities of
Denver, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Nevada and Mississippi in the US.
This type of program (with the possible exception of the Field Module in
January in Baltimore-BRRRR!!!) could easily be done at SHA in Baltimore and
WRI already has had successful tests of the concept at WRI's Field Site in
Arizona that we reported on at SHA in 2007 at Jamestown and, most recently,
at the French Legation Museum site at SHA in Austin that we will reporting
on at Baltimore. The Workshop that is envisioned could be a module of a
2-day Program at SHA or at a future SAA meeting.
With the input from the various Participants and Discussants of the 1st and
2nd SHA pXRF Symposia, a 3rd SHA pXRF Symposium is currently planned for
2012 in Baltimore. I will be acting as Co-Chair for this program as well as
Co-Chair for the 3rd SHA Technology Symposium and am actively looking for an
individual to act as my Co-Chair for the pXRF Symposium and who would
consider "taking over the reins" of this educational effort of further
promotion of this technology so that I can finish my dissertation research
and finish my program over the next few years.
Please feel free to e-mail or call Dr. Brackett or myself at the Wondjina
Research Institute\Country Chemist (WRI\CC JV) office number in Sonora
California (209) 532-3873 to give us YOUR thoughts on these concepts,
discuss YOUR PROJECT, allow us to advise you on how to set up YOUR project
or how this technology can be best used by YOU!!
Finally, Thank all of you for your interest in pXRF Technology! Vanessa,
Dennis, Dr. Brackett, Dr. Tykot and I are looking forward to seeing you in
Sacramento!
Sincerely,
Richard J. Lundin BA, MA, RPA, ISAP, AIPG
Consulting Historical Archaeologist & Remote Sensing Specialist
(Archaeogeophysics)
Director, Wondjina Research Institute
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 1st SHA pXRF Symposium at SHA 2010 at Amelia
Island, Florida
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 2nd SHA Technology Symposium at SHA 2011 at
Austin, Texas
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 2nd SHA pXRF Symposium at SHA 2011 at Austin,
Texas
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 1st SAA pXRF Symposium at SAA 2011 at
Sacramento, California
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 3rd SHA Technology Symposium at SHA 2012 at
Baltimore, Maryland
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 3rd SHA pXRF Symposium at SHA 2012 at
Baltimore, Maryland
Co-organizer & Co-Chair of the Field Geochemistry Session at SME 2012 at
Seattle, Washington
Member, SHA Technology Committee
Liaison from the Society for Archaeological Science (SAS) and the
International Society for Archaeometry (ISA) to SHA
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