HONOLULU — The University of Hawai‘i Museum Consortium has completed the digitization of the Hawaiian Marine Shell Reference Collection — nearly 200 species of marine mollusks from the UH Manoa anthropology department’s archaeology laboratory, UH reported Tuesday. Beachcombers and scientists
HONOLULU — The University of Hawai‘i Museum Consortium has completed the digitization of the Hawaiian Marine Shell Reference Collection — nearly 200 species of marine mollusks from the UH Manoa anthropology department’s archaeology laboratory, UH reported Tuesday.
Beachcombers and scientists will find the digital collection useful for identifying species of seashells found throughout Hawaiian beaches.
“The collection is fairly comprehensive for much of the archeological shell midden material commonly found in the Hawaiian landscape,” UH Museum Consortium Michael Thomas said in a news release.
The specimens are currently curated by Archaeology Labs Manager Jo Lynn Gunness. The collaborative project was cross disciplinary and involved several curators, students, community volunteers and the university photographer.
“This initiative is an excellent demonstration of how digital technologies can be applied to increase public access to university collections and to add value to an underutilized reference collection,” Thomas said.
UH’s Virtual Museum, established in 2008, offers a single web portal to various university natural science and humanities collections. Currently, UH’s Joseph F. Rock Herbarium, Insect Museum and the Historic Clothing Museum have digital collection initiatives underway.
Visit www.museum.
hawaii.edu to access UH Virtual Museum.
