Featured on the Princeton University homepage, Professors Nathan Arrington and Samuel Holzman utilize game-changing new digital technologies on their archaeological excavations in concert with the long-established methods that simply don't need improving.

Founded in 300 B.C., Antioch was one of the most important political and cultural centers of the Hellenistic East and one of the great metropolises of the Roman Empire. In the 1930s, Princeton archaeologists at Antioch tunneled trenches hither and thither for eight years based on ancient text references and hunches but never happened upon the Forum of Valens or the ancient imperial palace they set out to find.

Fast forward to summer 2023. Silhouetted by the crimson sun swelling over the mountain range on Northern Greece’s Aegean coast, Nathan Arrington and his colleagues race the heat, huddling over their work with the pickaxes, trowels and brushes that have been emblematic of archaeology for over a century. But Arrington’s team also has a set of new additions in their toolbox that are revolutionizing the field:  drone imaging, laser rangefinders, magnetometry and more.

“We still dig dirt with trowels,” said Arrington, professor of archaeology. “But the new digital tools allow us to be more accurate, collaborative and insightful both in and out of the field.” In the field, digital technology saves immense amounts of time and limits fruitless digging. In the classroom, VR recreations help bring the past to life.