Archaeologists Embrace Big Data

It seems that everyone in some way is getting involved with Big Data, from obvious things like social media companies and online retailers to NASA to Big Pharma. Yet, there are some that have been behind the curve and are only recently beginning to realize the giant benefits that await by taking advantage of the latest technology in data acquisition and analysis. One of these lagging fields is archaeology. Long focused on getting down and dirty with the standard tools of the trade, the trowel, the pick, and the humble brush, archaeology has long resisted the encroachment of modern technology into the study of the past. To be fair, it’s easy to understand why. Much the joy of archeology, or many other professions, lies in the discovery. Of using those humble tools to chip away at the earth, unveiling relics of the past, sometimes discovering not just a new bit of pottery, but a whole civilization that could completely upend the field. Archeology itself is focused primarily on the past, on older, simpler