Despite the increasing adoption of technologies that generate, process, and analyze digital objects, the final stages of the data life cycle—archiving and preservation—remain insufficiently addressed across cultural heritage disciplines. The rapid inclusion of technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), photogrammetry, 3D scanning, and remote sensing in cultural heritage has exponentially increased the volume and types of data produced. However, many cultural heritage projects lack adequate long-term planning, infrastructure, and institutional support for the proper stewardship of digital objects, leading to significant risks of data degradation, obsolescence, or complete loss. The Digital Curation Crisis refers to a critical challenge in managing, preserving, and ensuring access to the vast and ever-growing body of digital objects generated within cultural heritage. This new type of crisis is occurring adjacent to the already recognized curation crisis, and it is in this line of thinking that we structure this article. We utilize readily recognized terms and concepts associated with physical archaeological curation to convey standardized definitions, benefits, and recommendations for data producers (i.e., museum professionals, historic preservationists, and archaeologists across different sectors) and data preservationists (i.e., curating individuals and institutions) needing guidance for actionable steps toward their own digital curation journey.

Archaeological fieldwork in China commonly relies on short-term labor recruited from nearby villages, forming a long-standing mode of collaboration between state-employed staff and local workers. Drawing on sustained field engagement and interviews at the Chengcun City Site of the Han Dynasty, this research examines how locally recruited workers enter, sustain, and experience participation in archaeological practice. Community members often begin archaeological work during agricultural off-seasons and may accumulate decades of experience. Their trajectories vary: some obtain institutional posts, others return to farming, and many continue in project-based employment. These trajectories indicate that funding structures shape employment continuity and welfare access, while skills developed through long-term practice do not always translate into formal professional status. Archaeological labor constitutes a key mechanism in producing excavation knowledge, shaping professional roles, and structuring heritage governance in everyday practice. Viewed through labor trajectories, archaeological professionalization appears uneven, shaped by institutional arrangements, rural livelihood strategies, and localized opportunities. Based on the Chengcun case, this research points to broader dynamics: large-scale projects rely on localized labor regimes while maintaining differentiated forms of recognition and authority. Reconsidering archaeology through labor offers a perspective on knowledge production, participation, and governance.

Archaeological labor in the Andes unfolds not only in field trenches and labs but also in the social and cosmological landscapes where sites remain powerful actors affecting daily community life. Drawing on collaborative fieldwork in the Huaylas and Cosma River Basins of the Cordillera Negra Mountains, Ancash, Peru, this article reflects on how archaeological work is shaped by theoretical framing, traditional field methods, and the relationships between descendant communities and the archaeological sites they live around that influence daily fieldwork. We argue for an expanded definition of archaeological labor that encompasses ceremonial, emotional, and relational work alongside excavation and analysis and share strategies in hiring, organization, and training. These include daily routines that make space for ritual practice, decision-making frameworks that treat local knowledge as actionable, and project planning that honors contractual and cultural obligations. By including these community-framed practices in the methodology, we call for culturally engaged archaeological labor that recognizes how communities, researchers, and sites co-produce knowledge and working conditions, thereby building a safer, more inclusive, and more equitable work environment.

Games have the potential to engage a wider public with archaeology, but popular products also continue to perpetuate misconceptions about the past. One potential solution is for archaeologists, heritage professionals, and historians to act as consultants in the process of game design. However, there has been little published about what consultation involves, particularly with the understanding that games with archaeological themes often rely heavily on colonial narratives, as well as stereotypes that affect descendant communities. In this digital review, I draw on my experiences as an archaeologist and cultural consultant within the tabletop games industry to highlight how representation, expertise, and positionality are considerations for any scholar who is solicited for consultation on a commercial product. I also address the unpaid, underpaid, and emotional labor that lurks within an industry reliant on personal passions and work characterized as fun. I conclude with recommendations that focus on reducing harm in the present while playing with the past.

Archaeology is in the midst of a technological revolution, particularly for data collection, first championed by light detection and ranging (lidar) in the early 2000s and now with widespread applications of unmanned aerial systems (UAS)-deployed remote sensing. While the importance of remote sensing for data collection and heritage conservation is known, less work has acknowledged the implications of remote sensing for field safety, particularly for disabled researchers. UAS offer a unique opportunity to explore circumstances that may affect mobility in the field and how advances in archaeological science can transform fieldwork by improving accessibility for disabled archaeologists. I argue that UAS can—and should—be improved to promote accessibility in archaeological fieldwork, due to their promotion of field safety, increased planning of daily tasks, and broader applications to community-engaged research. These interventions should be applied to the larger field of archaeology to improve labor management for researchers in all sectors of practice.

In the practice of archaeological research in Peru, a set of economic, political, and ethical contradictions can be recognized in the relationships between archaeologists, excavation technicians, and other groups. It has been observed that our social relationships in fieldwork and other archaeological practice spaces reproduce the principles of the free market, individual competition, and labor exploitation. However, a medium-term archaeological project, the Chicama Archaeological Program (PRACH), has been established on the northern coast of Peru, confronting those contradictions to transform socioeconomic relationships in the discipline. Over time, crew members and participants in this program have transformed their ways of being, transcending the conventional boundaries of mere workers. Despite the pervasive influence of the laws of the market on our social fabric, a conscious political stance has emerged as a counterforce, aiming to overcome the alienating effects of neoliberalism. Thus, our crew prioritizes cooperation, solidarity, and care over competition, individualism, selfishness, and immediate and utilitarian relationships. A host of challenges must be confronted, but the motivation for this effort lies in adopting an alternative, novel, and conscious approach to the inequalities generated by conventional forms of interpersonal interaction, especially in our archaeological practice.

In 2021, the cultural heritage nonprofit organization Archaeology Southwest received a Human Networks and Data Science grant from the US National Science Foundation to update its long-running archaeological research database, cyberSW. Central to this process was the creation of a Tribal Working Group (TWG) to advise the cyberSW team on how to make the database more relevant/useful to Native American communities in the region. Over the next three years, the TWG collaboration led to new approaches to database management and the hiring of a Native American fellow, as well as an expansion of the project to engage with traditional knowledge about plants and animals. This article recounts the history of the cyberSW 2.0 database project and TWG’s role within this process, with the goal of sharing lessons learned for others interested in developing similar collaborative programs with Native American communities.

Cultural resource management (CRM) in the United States is an industry that thrives (or falters) on tight budgets and short deadlines. To steadily secure a reliable stream of projects from major clients (and to support the limited budgets of smaller clients), CRM firms are often forced to work with bare-bones funding, requiring them to demand a great deal of effort from their field and office personnel to stay within budget and on schedule. When the projects themselves can easily become the main focus, above the needs of the staff, an unhealthy working environment, lack of work–life balance, burnout, and resentment toward management can result. In this article, I reflect on my own leadership experiences and present a model that outlines best practices for CRM leadership professionals to follow to grow and maintain their businesses through the genuine and consistent support of staff members. I recommend three basic components to creating a healthy working environment in CRM: (1) policies and procedures that clearly outline staff safety, approaches to work–life balance, and field and lab protocols; (2) a “practice what you preach” approach to leadership; and (3) access to professional development opportunities for all staff, regardless of their job level or experience.

Since the first attempts to organize as a collective in the mid-1980s, with the surge of the new management models in a democratic and decentralized Spain, both archaeology and labor have changed considerably. Although many old battles to recognize the profession are still alive, other initiatives have strengthened the archaeological ecosystem in the country. On the horizon, addressing the structural challenges of work precarity in archaeology. Temporary contracts, low salaries, lack of legal, and administrative recognition, and deficiencies in basic rights (for example, in health and safety) are some of the problems we have been facing for decades, and now we are closer to counteracting them. This paper will review (1) the recent history of Spanish archaeology and the formation of the current archaeological ecosystem; (2) collective action to improve working conditions in Spanish archaeology over the last decades; (3) the latest actions from the Spanish Platform of Professional Archaeologists (PEPA) to overcome hindrance; and (4) the dream of a common front in Europe (and beyond) to achieve the profession we want to have. Although sometimes this struggle is frustrating, a retrospective view of the events and the achievements gained over the years brings hope for the future and some significant steps forward.

This article addresses the historical and ongoing exclusion of descendant and local communities, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), from digital archaeological archives. We contend that current digitization practices often perpetuate colonial-era biases through limited, monolingual metadata that fail to reflect or engage with local histories and knowledge systems. Noting the insufficiency of current FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) data frameworks for this specific context, we propose a shift toward reparative, co-stewardship models. Drawing on practice-led pilot projects within digital archaeological archives using Linked Open Data (LOD) and community-facilitated annotation, this article demonstrates practical pathways for integrating diverse, multilingual perspectives to enrich archive metadata. In so doing, it demonstrates how digital interventions have the potential to destabilize power dynamics and work toward reparative practice. Ultimately, we advocate for conscious professional collaboration and institutional reform to transform archives from static repositories into dynamic spaces of equitable engagement, actively combating digital colonialism.

This article focuses on outlining formalized Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) training efforts at the undergraduate level. Since 2022, the Center for Archaeology and Society Repository (CASR) at Arizona State University has offered a four-semester NAGPRA learning track designed to prepare students for careers in NAGPRA. Recognizing the shortage of trained practitioners entering the field and the limited incorporation of NAGPRA education in anthropology curricula, the learning track integrates classroom learning, intensive mentorship, and hands-on experience with active repatriation work. Each semester builds progressively from a foundation of collections care and NAGPRA principles, to advanced repatriation tasks, then project management, and finally implementing repatriation in a setting outside of CASR. The program emphasizes a respectful approach to skills competency within a supportive environment that interweaves student needs with repatriation goals. Lessons learned highlight the need for planning, dedicated supervision, and a repatriation process tailored to student integration to ensure meaningful student learning, professional readiness, and NAGPRA project advancement. The CASR NAGPRA learning track serves as a model for other institutions seeking to implement a NAGPRA educational program. The combination of experiential learning, direct participation in compliance processes, and discussion topics prepares students for a career in repatriation and fields beyond.

Coastal, riverine, and lacustrine environments have played a central role in the development of human societies, yet locating and documenting this record of activity in littoral environments have proven difficult. Terrestrial survey methods reach their limit at the water’s edge, whereas marine geophysical equipment often struggles in depths of less than 1 m. This “white ribbon” of missing data represents a persistent methodological gap but one that is rich in information. Recent work on Scottish crannogs, or artificial islands, has highlighted this predicament while also providing a test bed for practical solutions. This article presents the results of that work: a robust and repeatable workflow for high-resolution shallow-water photogrammetry, tested in challenging conditions and benchmarked against the GNSS-enabled accuracy of drone surveys. The approach combines stereophotogrammetry, using artificial scale bars for internal calibration, with ground control points to enable the integration of terrestrial and underwater data. This method is both accessible and efficient, offering a replicable framework for recording archaeological sites at the water’s edge.

Archaeological sampling is a critical yet inconsistently applied aspect of field methodology. Poorly designed strategies produce biased or irreproducible results, especially when recovery is labor-intensive and research expectations are high. This article addresses that challenge through the lens of spatial microrefuse analysis, using simulation modeling to evaluate current practices and improve sampling design, training, and planning. A review of 27 published microrefuse studies reveals wide variation in sampling strategies, unit sizes, and volumes, with little evidence of statistical justification. To explore the consequences of this variation, I introduce the Archaeological Sampling Experiment Laboratory (tASEL), an open-source simulation tool developed in NetLogo and archived in the CoMSES model library. tASEL allows archaeologists to construct artifact distributions and test random, systematic, or hybrid sampling frames with immediate visual and statistical feedback. I used tASEL to conduct 22,000 virtual sampling experiments across two artifact distributions: a diffuse random scatter and a highly clustered pattern. Results show that sampling performance varies significantly by distribution, sample size, and frame design. Random strategies produced the highest accuracy and lowest bias. I conclude by demonstrating how tASEL can be used in classroom and field contexts to improve sampling literacy and support more robust archaeological practice.