“Peering Through the Sands of Time” The Tablet Revolution in Public Outreach in Archeology…(?) Mason D. Miller, M.A.; AmaTerra Environmental, Inc.

Presented at the 2016 TxDOT Transportation Planning Conference Houston - June 16, 2016

Some perspective...

The Kitchen Branch Site (41CP220) Camp County, Texas

● Multi-Component (Paleoindian-Historic) Site on Banks of Kitchen Branch of Prairie Creek

● Testing and Data Recovery Excavations sponsored by TxDOT in association with FM 557 Bridge Expansion Project ○ 2004-2005 Testing, 2006-2007 Data Recovery,

2010-2014 Analysis and Reporting ○ Coastal Environments, Hicks & Company,

Archeological and Environmental Consultants, and AmaTerra Environmental

● Data Recovery Focused on Late Caddo Titus Phase A.D. 1430-1680 Single-Family Occupation Site

● 167 Test Units Excavated and 23 Gradall Trenches ● 236 Features, ~20,000 Artifacts Recovered

(including botanicals and bone) ● HUGE Final Report

Peering Through the Sands of Time Public Outreach from the Kitchen Branch Site Excavations

All digital electronic publication intended for quick access and entertainment-oriented consumption (versus deep, technical discussion).

Intentional heavy focus on images and pleasing graphic-heavy layout to catch a reader’s eye and interest.

Use of interactivity to provide lasting impression of reading and topics discussed.

3d MODELS!!!! Text written specifically for general public interest

with goals of access in schools. Illustrated glossary included with in-text

references.

And Now… A Demonstration

How did I make it? iBooks Author

● Free iBook Authoring Program

● Drag and Drop Layout

● Lovely Pre-Made Templates

● Pre-Made Interactive Widgets

● HTML, CSS, and Javascript Widgets (for embedded web content)

● 3d Model Import in Collada .dae format

Some of the Reactions...

The 2015 Council of Texas Archeologists’ E. Mott Davis Award Winner

Not Pictured: Dr. Robert “Zac” Selden, Steven F. Austin University; Dr. Timothy K. Perttula, Archeological and Environmental Consultants, Inc.

Some BIG Strengths to the Platform… beyond

the cool 3d stuff...

1- Actual quantif ication of outreach and

immediate worldwide distribution. Country

iTunes Downloads

Google Downloads* Total

United States 300 199 499

United Kingdom 56 10 66

Canada 6 12 18

Australia 3 6 9

Italy 1 2 3

South Korea 3 3

Belgium 2 2

Brazil 2 2

India 2 2

New Zealand 1 1 2

Czech Republic 1 1

Finland 1 1

France 1 1

Germany 1 1

Indonesia 1 1

Japan 1 1

Mexico 1 1

Netherlands 1 1

Norway 1 1

Peru 1 1

Slovakia 1 1

South Africa 1 1

Sweden 1 1

Switzerland 1 1

Thailand 1 1

Total Countries: 25 375 246 621

2 - Updatability!!!!

3 - All the tools are free

iBooks Author $0 123d Catch (3d Model Generation) $0(?) Meshlab (3d Model Optimization) $0 iTunes Bookstore Listing in 51 Stores Worldwide/Download Access $0 Google Play Store Book Listing in 65 Countries/Download Access $0

4 - It is n’t as tough as it looks ...

Actual Labor to Design and Produce It

● 164 Person-Hours Budgeted

● Costs per person directly engaged are going down every day

Some… hiccups along the way...

1. Way too many types of devices out there. a. As of May 2015, accessible by

iPhones. 2. Non-Proprietary Access? 3. How do you easily get the word out?

a. Google Play Store has 5 million titles.

4. How do you get some reviews?

Thank You! Contact me, Mason Miller, at mmiller (at) amaterra.com

or 512-329-0031 This will also be available online. Copy down

this URL: https:/ /goo.gl/ lXIEw0.

Thank You!