SEAArch – The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

I end off my series on using a pole camera for archaeology (check out Parts 1: The Problem, 2: Field Test and 3: Parts list) with some evaluative notes about the use of the polecam, some things I might want to try out for later, and the cost of the whole setup.

Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve seen the polecam in action in the last post, in this post we’ll take a closer look at the polecam rig, the parts I used and the factors I considered for each part.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the first post, I wrote about how I got into Pole Aerial Photography, along with the requirements and constraints I was working under. In this post, I’m going to introduce my pole photography setup and how it worked in the field.

Read the rest of this entry »

In this series of posts I’ll be blogging about how I put together a pole camera to help me conduct some archaeological work, and how to put together one yourself, if you’re so inclined. 10 months ago, I conducted an archaeological investigation of a rock art site which involved very little excavation, but relied heavily on photography as the primary means of recording. The bulk of the rock art was located on a cliff face 15-35’ above the surface. To access the art up close, I hired a contractor to erect a scaffold in front of the cliff face, which allowed me close access to most of the paintings. On the other hand, the scaffold had a limited time offer (two weeks) and it cost me nearly half the research grant. And it also didn’t cover all the rock art that I needed to record. To cover the other parts of the rock art that wasn’t accessible by the scaffold, I had to rely greatly on zoom photography, but because some of the areas I needed to photograph were so high, quite a few of the images were skewed.

Read the rest of this entry »

08 November 2007 (Philippine Inquirer) – Anyone interested in fieldwork in Cebu? The National Museum and the Committee on Sites, Relics and Structures of the Cebu Provincial Government is looking for volunteers for an investigation on a site in Bantayan Island in North Cebu from mid-November to early December. You’ll have to read all the way to the end of the article for details about the fieldwork.

Mangyan in Cebu
By Joeber Bersales

No need to climb the steep and cold mountains of Mindoro to get a glimpse of the culture of one of the last four indigenous groups in the country that still use the syllabary (or baybayin) that antedates the Spanish colonial period by centuries. Well, not just yet. The Mangyan Heritage Center (MHC) and the University of San Carlos (USC) Museum opened yesterday a traveling exhibit entitled “The Mangyans of Mindoro: Myth and Meaning” – and admission is absolutely free.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve just discovered an archaeology site called Past Horizons that hosts an online store for archaeological equipment and also a worldwide database for fieldwork opportunities. There are currently two archaeology fieldwork projects listed for Southeast Asia: one in Cambodia and one in Thailand.

Cambodia
Khmer Project in Cambodia
19 Nov Update: I sent an email query to them asking for more information, but none was received. Have been waiting for about 10 days now.

Thailand
Origins of Angkor

For more information, click on the links, which will take you to the Past Horizons site. You can also click on the picture to take you to the Past Horizons site where you can search for archaeology fieldwork opportunities around the world.

Do you have any fieldwork opportunity in Southeast Asia? If you do, send me an email so that I can also share it here on SEAArch!