Mobile Archeology
Mobile Archaeological Recording Kit
Mobile
Archaeological Recording Kit (MARK) is a collection of small
applications designed to run on Windows CE/Mobile 2003 and later
operating systems for inexpensive Pocket PC’s (housed in
weather-tight Otterbox ™ containers. Each of nine applications
addresses a specific site-recording task, such as cataloging flaked
stone artifacts, documenting site settings, or maintaining a photo
log.
Because recording tasks are distributed across several small databases, multiple crewmembers can work simultaneously on the same task (such as recording lithic artifacts) in different portions of a site, or on multiple separate tasks. This decreases recording time while increasing the potential volume of information gathered, and avoids taxing one or two crewmembers with a majority of site recording efforts. The use of MARK has allowed rapid analysis and site documentation, reduced recording errors and omissions, and facilitated rapid population of cultural resource databases.
The current version of MARK was developed using the Windows Mobile programming language NS Basic ™ Versions 5.0 and 6.5 between March 2005 and March 2006 during fieldwork on Nellis Air Force Base in southern Nevada. As of December 2006, Version 1.0 has received approximately 2,000 hours of field time while recording over 200 prehistoric sites.
The system has been deployed on the Nevada Test and Training Range, the Desert National Monument, Arizona, and at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. At Andersen the system was used in a tropical forest environment during both the dry and rainy seasons.
