Putting Virginia Archaeology on the map

Egloff Atlas of Virginia Archaeology

Google maps seem like a natural for archaeology. Though they are not fine grained enough for a single site, they excel in showing multiple sites, or indeed any spatial content. The maps form the starting point, and content – text, images, and videos – can be layered on top, along with any type of interaction.

Stories Past created a simple map for lithics last year  as part of a larger module on points and lithics.  Now we’ve put up the Egloff Atlas of Virginia, named after noted Virginia archaeologist Keith Egloff.

The map shows sites in Virginia that have archaeology and you can select by region, or by specific site. The content was developed by the Council of Virginia Archaeology and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and should serve as a way of promoting Virginia archaeology.

There are a million ways to use Google maps in interpretation and research. The development costs are low and you it comes with all the Google functionality: zooms, drag, satellite, map and street view. If the content is created through an XML file it can be easily maintained through a simple text editor. Showing routes or journeys, linking story and place, overlaying maps with layers to show distribution of artifacts across a region or country, relating time and space, showing landscape features – the list is endless as this link proves!