Humanities, Technology, and Archaeology: A case study of the belcher collection of Cypriot antiquities
Research in
the humanities has traditionally taken the form of a publication in print, and humanities education has long been fuled by such
publications. Despite the interio generated by this long tradition, new technologies are rapidly gaining ground in humanistic disciplines. These, the Internet predominant among them, are working to transform
archaeological research.
Monographs are research bottlenecks, preventing new knowledge from joining the greater academic consciousness in a timely fashion. The Internet offers a solution to the problems of the monograph. Archaeologists can use it to quickly, effectively, and cheaply release information about the processes and results of their excavations.
While the concept of utilizing technology in the humanities is no loger novel, it continues to embroil college faculties in an ongoing debate. On the one hand, technology is a useful tool to advance the core values that have traditionally been a part of a classical education in the liberal arts; on the other it encroaches on or diminishes those same traditions.
Despite such partisanship, it is increasingly obvious that the information technology will continue to play a significant rols in humanities research. The nature of this role will be largely conditioned by the degree to which proponents of the Internet can demonstrate an improvement over traditional approaches to research publications. The case study of the Belcher Collection of Cypriot Antiquities (http://www.albany.edu/cyprus/belcher.html) is a methodological blueprint for future work in the publication of archaeological collections online.