UC San Diego

The image of the archaeologist is changing; there is little we can do about that. The dusty boots, timeworn trowel, and coffee-stained notebooks may themselves become the images that we see in museums in a not too distant future. One only has to open up any archaeology publication today to find stunning images of drones, tablets, GPSs, laser scanners and a myriad of many other devices that were hardly thought of a decade or two ago (For example, see: Levy 2013; Levy, et al. 2010). The rapid evolution of technology has meant that there are new approaches to field archaeology that can enhance our work, help to preserve the past from our rather destructive discipline, and also help to disseminate our research to the public. Among all these tools, perhaps in the shadow of drones and laser scanners, is the archaeologist's notebook. That notebook, containing the primary observations for excavations is fundamental to understanding work conducted in any trench at any site; and like many of the other facets of archaeology, is also going through a process of change from analog to digital. In this article, we will look at one such tool, OpenDig, developed in the midst of many of these changes occurring all around us. OpenDig should be understood in the context of the circumstances out of which it grew, the problems which it was created to solve, and as a result can be of use to other archaeologists today.