Dig sites may soon be on Internet

Notes on excavations that have sat in file cabinets for as long as 60 years will soon be available to archaeologists on the Internet.

"This will allow people to ask and answer different questions than they were able to before," said Beth Grindell, coordinator of the project.

Using the database, archaeologists will be able to compare many sites where ancient peoples once lived, hunted and farmed. Researchers will be able to study how Arizona's prehistoric cultures used the land, where they put their villages and what types of plants and animals they used for survival.

While some portions of the website will be restricted for professional use, it will also feature an on-line virtual tour of the state's historic buildings. Locations of ancient sites are generally kept secret to deter vandals, so the tour will be the only part of the database available to the general public.

Dubbed the AZSITE project, the data base is a cooperative effort between the Arizona State Museum, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Museum of Northern Arizona, and Arizona State University.

The project already collected data on more than 50,000 sites and hopes that number will soon jump to 70,000, Grindell said.

Also included in the database are more than 7,000 detailed maps of Arizona, showing the location of each site.

While AZSITE will help archaeologists with their research, they won't be throwing away their shovels yet.

"It won't stop people from going out to dig," says Grindell.

Arizona law requires excavation of ancient sites before they are destroyed by development. The Arizona State Museum receives all the artifacts and copies of the excavation report.

"All incoming reports are put into the database within a month or so," Grindell said.

In its four year history, the AZSITE project has raised nearly $500,000 from state and federal agencies. One of the main contributors is the Arizona Heritage Funds, which distributes revenue from the state lottery to various preservation projects.

The Arizona Department of Transportation has pledged an additional $227,000 for the creation of the virtual tour.

Similar projects are underway in several other states, Grindell said. Representatives from AZSITE recently a attended national meeting to set up standards and communication between the projects.

Grindell hopes that these different projects will eventually be linked to form a national inventory of America's past.