Technology and the Internet have developed to the point where any one of us has the ability to access an unlimited amount of information on an object that can fit in a pocket, from all over the world—even in a remote field in the middle of Florida! Much has been said about the convenience of using smartphones to manage personal life, but I was able to capitalize on the applications and features available on the iPhone to make it the central tool in my archaeological field studies. I visited many archaeological sites all around Florida to take measurements and note the alignments of ancient man-made earthen mounds looking for astronomical alignments.
Using apps such as Stellarium, StarWalk, Google Earth, and the built-in compass, I was able to simultaneously see an aerial view of the sites, my present location, the angles of the mounds, astronomical data such as sunrise positions on specific dates, as well as being able to take pictures and record videos of my observations to make a composite and interactive model of the various sites I was mapping.
