Data access, management, and evaluation challenge the progress of speleology. Crucial information is both scattered throughout specialty mainstream journals and buried in the gray literature. The karst-information problem is exacerbated in paleontological speleology due to overlaps into other disciplines, such as geology, biology, paleoclimatology, and hydrology. Important patterns and relationships can easily be overlooked, especially when no geographic or cultural connections are known between archeological sites. The Karst Information Portal (KIP) is a solution to these paleontological research problems. Conceived in 2005 and launched in June 2007, KIP developed as a partnership between the International Union of Speleology, National Cave and Karst Research Institute, University of New Mexico, and University of South Florida.

Like other virtual research portals, KIP will grow as existing and future partners contribute information and plug websites and databases into the network. KIP will not duplicate existing databases but will serve to more efficiently access and process them with superior tools. A cave archeology bibliography is under development but additional partners are needed to fulfill KIP’s potential in revolutionizing archeological speleology through its advanced and collaborative integration of data and ideas.