Preservation Technology and Training Grants

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 Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit (CESU) agreement with the Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Applying geomorphic principles to help understand human prehistory in the context of desert landscape evolution has been an integral part of archaeological investigations for many decades(Waters, 1992).

Documenting historic sites is necessary to the mission of the National Parks Service. However, their mission is to also preserve and protect those areas. These SPARK beacons are an unobtrusive way to bring history, interpretation, and images to a site—directly into the hands of the visitors.

The use of noninvasive advanced imaging techniques addresses a critical need to support preservation at all levels – national, state and local. The grant supported the advancement of non-destructive analyses through the integration of aligned spectral techniques to develop a multi-functional system with enhanced capabilities for heritage science.

With a grant from NCPTT, the University of Oregon created a draft manual for management response to the impacts of climate change on cultural landscapes. This is a work in progress and the manual is projected to be available in the fall of 2016.

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. It also incorporates data from an earlier 2015 workshop, as well as elemental data collected by researchers since 2012. Small arms ammunition in America, throughout the eighteenth-and early nineteenth-centuries, consisted of round soft-metal balls.

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 rifled firearm ammunition components to type, model, or gunmaker.

The National Parks Service awarded faculty in Cornell University’s Department of City and Regional with a grant to explore the potential for 4D geographic information systems (GIS) modeling to support historic preservation professionals in the context of an important cultural landscape and municipal park. (The term 4D refers to 3D modeling plus the incorporation of the ability to visualize and analyze change over time.)

The grant from NPS NCPTT funded a study regarding the energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness of radiant barrier retrofits of historic homes in hot- humid climates.

This report introduces readers to digital plant records management, provides a comparative analysis of the leading digital plant recordkeeping tools, and outlines considerations related to use of these tools to enhance plant care, public education, and research. This report is intended for a National Park Service (NPS) audience, but may also be useful to other land managing organizations that are assessing plant records management options.