Paintings and boxes in the ISAC Archives

Data Research Center

Project Type Research Center

Status Active

Field Domain Humanities & Data Science

Time Period Global History

Regions Global

Overview

The Data Research Center is ISAC’s hub for research data, digital infrastructure, archival systems, and computational methods, helping scholars transform specialized evidence into durable, accessible, and reusable resources.

The Data Research Center supports projects across archaeology, languages, archives, cultural heritage, and museum collections. Its work includes digital research platforms, searchable databases, archival description, data integration, web applications, artificial intelligence, and emerging computational methods that allow scholars to ask new questions of ancient evidence. By making research data more accessible and interoperable, the center helps turn legacy archives and specialized datasets into living resources for discovery, teaching, preservation, and public engagement.

Research Archives library circa 2009 — The reading room of the library.

Research Archives library circa 1933 — The reading room of the library.

Visitors to the Archives — Workshop in the Archives.

The Data Research Center gives our researchers, students, and collaborators the tools to connect data across disciplines—from archaeology and linguistics to geoscience and computer science—redefining how we explore the human past.

Tim Harrison Director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

1M+

Repository Records

5M+

Digital Media Files

250TB

Data Storage

60K+

Citations to ISAC Research

Search Our Collections

Meet the DRC Team

Foy Scalf

Director of the ISAC Data Research Center

Allie Scholten

Archivist

Tommy Thomas

Web Application Developer

Data Research Center Mission Statement

The principal goals of the ISAC DRC are the provision of robust consultation in research design, data modelling, and database applications; surveying and monitoring of emerging tools and technologies; development, delivery, and support of interdisciplinary projects; solicitation and collaboration with area expertise; and preservation and stewardship of the digital data for ISAC. These services will support research projects of ISAC faculty, staff, and students, but additional DRC goals define and address its relationships among global re-search communities beyond ISAC. The DRC hosts and supports research projects whose interests and methodologies encompass the Humanities; Physical and Environmental Sciences; and Computer and Information Sciences. The DRC participates in global data communities, hosting and contributing to data repositories where appropriate and permitted.

DRC staff works in tandem with its internal advisory committee and the ISAC Director to ensure adherence to the DRC’s vision, mission, direction, and goals. Its policies and practices are regularly reviewed to assure the DRC advances the ISAC mission.

Research Archives Library

We steward one of the world’s leading research libraries for the study of the ancient Middle East and North Africa, supporting discovery, access, and long-term preservation of specialized scholarly resources.
Archives

We preserve, describe, digitize, and provide access to ISAC’s institutional records, fieldwork documentation, photographs, correspondence, and other unique materials that document more than a century of research.
Data Services

We help researchers organize, clean, structure, document, and publish their data so that projects are more sustainable, reusable, discoverable, and ready for future analysis.
Digital Publishing

We support open-access publication workflows for books, reports, datasets, and white papers, including metadata creation, DOI coordination, and long-term access planning.
Reesearch & Database Repositories

We develop and maintain digital repositories, databases, and discovery platforms that connect collections, publications, archives, images, field records, and scholarly datasets.
Server Administration & Infrastructure

We manage the technical infrastructure that supports ISAC research systems, including secure storage, backups, application hosting, database services, and long-term digital preservation planning.
Workshops & Training

We provide practical training in digital research methods, data management, archives, metadata, publishing workflows, and emerging technologies for faculty, staff, students, and project teams.
Project Consultation & Collaboration

We partner with researchers from project design through publication, helping shape sustainable digital workflows, grant plans, data models, public interfaces, and preservation strategies.