RFID Tags Transform Fossil Excavations from the Dig Site to the Display Case

RFID technology’s ability to deliver fast and efficient short-range wireless item identification and tracking has significantly improved how organizations manage their assets in industries ranging from retail and healthcare to energy and automotive. Now these same capabilities have been brought to a remote South Dakota dinosaur dig site where they are enabling researchers to digitize and share key information at every step of each bone’s journey from excavation to cleaning and preparation to display placement.

The excavation site, owned by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, is believed to be the first of its kind to use a combination of RFID technology, GIS mapping and geospatial curation to collect, identify and document the status and current location of each recovered item. The non-profit fossil excavation organization Earth Sciences Foundation (ESF) first used the solution at the Standing Rock dig operations over the summer of 2023. It has significantly improved on-site cataloging and other workflows, and given tribal leaders a better way to record and monitor a more comprehensive variety of information about the more than 10,000 fossils under their care.

The solution also has the potential to dramatically change paleontology in fundamental ways -- from how researchers collaborate on global studies to the way federal regulators monitor the excavation permits they issue on the millions of acres of land they oversee.

Digital Archeology in Action

The first step in ESF’s RFID-enabled digital dig process was to capture vital information about each fossil using the ArcGIS Survey123 software that is part of Berntsen International’s InfraMarker RFID system. This fossil information included precise location, species and anatomical part plus photos, field notes, schematics, and metadata. A unique bone identification number was then written to an RFID tag using a TSL RFID scanner from HID. Zip-tied to larger fossils or sealed within smaller fossils’ foil packaging, the tag was also loaded with basic data including asset owner, asset description and original asset coordinates. 

From this point forward, each fossil’s movement was tracked through various workflow zones using the TSL RFID scanner to generate a date/time stamp. This provided an auditable record of the specimen’s path to its last-known location. At any point in the bone’s movements, researchers and other users could view a map of its original and current location, its complete data record and a dashboard of daily, weekly and monthly actions.  This was especially valuable for owners of the dig site, who could “accompany” these assets virtually at each point of their journey.

At the heart of these capabilities is RFID technology whose roots date back to the 1940s. The first use of RFID was for Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) in the 1940s. Deployed in conjunction with a wireless radio, a passive transmitter on the aircraft allowed the Air Force to use radar to direct their own aircraft to maximum effect. This early use case triggered international research into the use of radio frequencies to remotely identify assets, which gave rise to today’s myriad consumer applications that benefit from RFID tags. These benefits now extend to paleontological excavations.

Types of RFID Tags Used

The Inframarker system used at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation employed multiple types of tag technologies including passive UHF RFID tags that are compliant with HF/NFC or EPC global certified UHF Class 1 Gen 2 readers and modules. These tags are also broadband-capable for worldwide operations, yet also work in offline mode to perform basic tag reading and writing without the need for Wi-Fi or any other connectivity. They are linked to data in the cloud along with GPS location.

UHF tags are often chosen for applications that need a longer read range. In general, read range depends on factors including tag and antenna size, the orientation of the tag in the RF field and the operating environment and surrounding materials. Typically, LF and HF tags are operated with a reading distance below 50 cm (20 in) whereas UHF tags are typically operated with a reading distance of a few meters. They also provide the option to read multiple tags at once; e.g. when tagged items are grouped on a pallet or truck moving through a reader gate.

Each tag used with the fossil-tracking system at the Standing Rock dig site also needed to include 512 bits of user memory to support the data-sharing structure of InfraMarker’s fossil-tracking system. This is significantly more user memory than available with the passive microchips built into most rugged RFID tags, which only enable from 64 or 96 bits to about 8 kilobytes to be stored. For comparison purposes, 96 bits is equivalent to about 12 characters, and a kilobyte amounts to about a half page of text.

Because the fossil-tracking solution needed so much more RFID tag user memory, data collection speed and accuracy were also important. The UHF tags’ anti-collision functionality, fast data-rate communication and password data protection enable this memory to be precisely and reliably read and updated.

Finally, the tags had to fit snugly over curved or irregular surfaces, and feature waterproofing, UV protection and rugged housing to deliver reliable performance and reading stability across fluctuating high-to-sub-freezing outdoor and indoor temperatures. 

Benefits and Future Plans

With its new RFID-based fossil-tracking system, ESF field researchers were immediately able to perform specimen mapping and logging activities in two to three minutes that previously took 20 to 30. Within five days, the excavation team had seamlessly cataloged 347 fossils, including 70 from an Edmontosaurus annectens that walked the continent between 68 and 66 million years ago. Artifact data accuracy was nearly 100 percent, and there was an 80 percent overall improvement in data collection time in the field. This workflow improvement resulted from the reduction in what had previously been manual data entry and administrative associated with collecting, identifying and displaying artifacts. The solution also eliminated much of the prior reliance on handwritten notes and printed records that had further burdened workflows. 

Not only is specimen mapping, logging and cataloging faster and more efficient with the RFID-based solution, but significantly more information can now be gathered and shared. Paleontologists at dig sites can each read a bone’s RFID tag, open a digital form and add comments, photographs and other information. Information can continue to be added at each step along the way from the dig site to the warehouse and beyond.

Because all information is also stored in the cloud and pinpointed on a map, these digital records can be accessed remotely – including where the specimen is currently located. This is particularly important for large history museum collections. Often just a fraction of a collection is on display at any given time, with much more being stored on shelves and in drawers behind the scenes, including in off-site warehouses.

Another benefit of RFID is that scanning can be done from a distance when inventorying a collection, without touching any specimens. If an item is not where it is supposed to be, it is possible to scan a larger area to find it. RFID antennas can also be positioned where artifacts are regularly being moved from storage to display, or vice versa. This makes it easier to locate an item at any given time.

ESF is now looking at deploying this system at other paleontological dig sites as well as archaeological sites that have similar mapping and tracking requirements. Meanwhile, all tags remain affixed to the fossils recovered from the Standing Rock location, most of which are at a holding facility awaiting further processing. As the specimens move through their next steps, new information will be added to each fossil record. 

There also is the opportunity for researchers worldwide to be given access to this information so that, for instance, they can search for all information about a specific type of bone that has been found at the site. They can then access a rich set of data about this specific category of bones, including a visual history of their excavation from when they were pulled from the ground to when they were processed and placed into storage or a museum exhibit. 

There may also be a future opportunity to compare learnings from the Standing Rock site with those from other locations worldwide that similarly use RFID-based solutions for digitally mapping, tracking and curating a fossil’s journey from the discovery to the display case. The same RFID technology whose more than 80-year history may have improperly categorized it as a technological “dinosaur” will have then proved, once again, just how disruptive it is and can be – this time for collaborative paleontological research on a global basis.