Mission
Paleo Core serves the scientific community by addressing the common challenge of integrating data across independent research projects. Answers to major scientific questions arise when independent groups can successfully search, exchange and integrate their data.
Paleo Core serves the student and academic community by organizing disparate sources of information in a way that students and teachers can use to explore human origins.
Paleo Core serves the broader public by providing timely, current knowledge on human origins research. Paleo Core works closely with eFossils, eSkeletons and eLucy to provide intuitive explanations of complex topics in human origins.
Goals
- Implement and extend data standards for paleoanthropology.
- Develop digital data collection methods for the field that promote rapid, real-time data using mobile devices.
- Maintain an online spatial data platform that allows teams to collaboratively manage and analyze artifact, fossil and geological occurrences.
The Name
The name "Paleo Core" is a reference to existing international data standards such as Dublin Core, Darwin Core and Access to Biological Collections Data (ABCD). A core (pun intended) aim of the Paleo Core project is to provide stable implementation of these standards with specific examples of best practices in the domain of paleoanthropology, including suggestions for modifications and extensions to existing standards that make them more applicable for paleoanthropological and prehistory applications.
Funding and Support
Paleo Core was initiated by a grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF 1244735). Paleo Core receives additional support for server and network infrastructure from the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). As an open-source software project Paleo Core receives support from Jet Brains software, which provides free licensing for PyCharm IDE software, and from DB Vis software, which provides free licensing for DB Visualizer database management software.
Publications and Resources
A Brief Introduction to Paleo Core - [55 MB mp4 video]
