ORCA
Drupal 7 to 10 Migration
Archaeological research platform preserving Colorado's heritage upgraded with modern media management and responsive design
Online Resources for Colorado Archaeology
ORCA serves as a vital digital repository for Colorado's archaeological and historic preservation community. Managed by Paleocultural Research Group, the platform provides researchers, educators, and the public with access to archaeological resources, research libraries, and professional forums.
Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 with Media Migration
CodeLift migrated the legacy Drupal 7 site to Drupal 10, converting file attachments to modern media entities, rebuilding the custom theme in Twig, and preserving the comprehensive research library with all its specialized taxonomy and search functionality.
Niels and his team made this potentially stressful process simple and seamless. They explained every step of the process, were very knowledgeable, professional, and accommodated an 8-hour time difference when we needed to discuss things. The site was accessible the entire time and the site looks and functions exactly like the older Drupal version. We highly recommend working with Niels and the team at CodeLift.
Paleocultural Research Group
Preserving Decades of Archaeological Research
ORCA faced a critical challenge common to academic and research institutions: their Drupal 7 platform, while functional, was approaching end-of-life with no further security updates. The site housed irreplaceable archaeological research data, including a comprehensive PDF research library with complex metadata, geographic and thematic taxonomies, and an active professional community forum. Any migration had to preserve this scholarly resource completely while modernizing the underlying technology.
Migration Approach
Files to Media Entity Conversion
Legacy file attachments across the research library and resource content types were converted to Drupal's modern Media entity system. This included document, image, and private document media types with proper access controls for professional-only content.
PHP Theme to Twig Conversion
The original Artisteer-generated PHP theme was completely rebuilt using Drupal's Twig templating engine. Over 17 custom templates were created to maintain the site's distinctive look while enabling modern responsive behavior.
Research Library Preservation
The PDF Research Library with its complex field structure - including document types, project types, temporal keywords, thematic keywords, and publication metadata - was fully migrated with all searchable facets intact.
Taxonomy Structure Migration
Geographic, thematic, and content-type taxonomies essential for resource categorization were preserved. These taxonomies power the site's ability to organize archaeological resources by location, topic, and format.
Forum Community Preservation
The professional archaeology forum, essential for community discussion, was migrated with all threading, user relationships, and comment notification systems preserved for continued scholarly collaboration.
Pantheon Hosting Integration
The upgraded site was deployed to Pantheon's managed hosting platform with proper CI/CD workflows, Drush integration, and configuration management for ongoing maintenance under an "always on latest version" SLA.
Digital Preservation for Archaeological Heritage
ORCA's migration represents more than a technical upgrade - it's an investment in preserving Colorado's archaeological heritage for future generations. Archaeological data, once lost, is irreplaceable. By modernizing the platform while maintaining complete data integrity, researchers can continue to access, share, and build upon decades of field reports, excavation documentation, and scholarly analysis. The upgraded system now supports modern media management, enabling better preservation of historical photographs, maps, and documents that form the backbone of archaeological research.
Migration by the Numbers
Configuration files migrated
Custom Twig templates created
Media types configured (document, image, private)
Taxonomy vocabularies preserved
Views configurations migrated
Research library search retained
Specialized Content Architecture
The migration preserved ORCA's specialized content architecture designed for archaeological research:
- Resource - General archaeological resources with geographic and thematic categorization, downloadable files, and external links
- PDFResearchLib - Comprehensive research library entries with citation information, document types, project classifications, temporal/thematic keywords, and professional-only access controls
- Forum - Active community discussion spaces for professional archaeologists with full threading and notification systems
- Basic Pages - Informational content about Colorado archaeology and historic preservation
Archaeological research platforms require special care during migration. Every PDF, every metadata field, every taxonomy term represents irreplaceable scholarly work. The ORCA project demonstrates our commitment to academic institutions - we understand that data preservation isn't just about technology, it's about safeguarding cultural heritage.
Niels de Feyter
Founder of CodeLift
Always on the Latest Version
ORCA operates under CodeLift's "Always on the Latest Version" service level agreement. This ensures the platform receives continuous security updates, core upgrades, and module maintenance - critical for an academic resource serving the archaeology community. With Pantheon hosting providing robust infrastructure and CodeLift providing ongoing maintenance, ORCA's digital archive remains secure and accessible for researchers worldwide.
Get a Clear Upgrade Roadmap
Book a free 30-minute call. I will assess your site and give you a clear upgrade path — no obligations, no sales pitch.