There are many stories yet to be told about Chaco; it's a place of ongoing revelation ... new data to be found, new questions to be asked of old data. One inhibitor of the revelation is the scattering of notes, artifacts and pictures from earlier explorations. This scholarly material is in Albuquerque, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, New Orleans and other places as well. Anyone doing comparative research ... trying to access the data from different digs ... has to travel extensively and go through whatever hoops each library, museum and archive has for access. It's a daunting, time-consuming and expensive proposition.
At the dawn of the digital age (the late 1980s), it also began to dawn on me how beneficial it would be to have all of this material digitized and available for remote access by researchers and any interested members of the public. The vehicle for that, as we expressed in the park's research plan, could be a Chaco Common Catalog ... a collaborative effort among the various NPS offices and other institutions.
Sarah Bishop pursued funding for this through Partners in Parks, but it appeared to come to naught. I figured it would never happen, darn it!
Lo and behold, the Chaco Digital Initiative (www.chacoarchive.org) has been out there for several years now as just such a collaborative project among agencies and institutions. It has solid accomplishments already and appears to be growing and developing. I visited the photo gallery and saw pictures from excavations that I never thought I would see ... in some cases, didn't even know existed!
What a treasure trove this is and will be. If you are interested in things Chaco, this is a must! tv
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