Research Facilities: Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology has a variety of research facilities based within faculty laboratories and in special laboratories. The facilities cover the analysis of lithic technology, zooarchaeology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and dental structure and microwear.

The laboratory for dental structure and microwear contains a scanning electron microscope, a confocal microscope, one optical scope equipped with video output and image analysis software, slide preparation equipment, computers, table space, and a large collection of fossil and modern human dental material. The physical anthropology laboratories house an extensive primate and hominid fossil cast collection, as well as a collection of modern human skeletal material.

The archaeology laboratories contain high-resolution slide scanners, flatbed scanners, digitizers, printers, numerous binocular microscopes (with several equipped for photography and video output), electronic total stations, and a meat freezer. Several computers are equipped with customized software for analysis of zooarchaeological data. A state-of-the-art GIS laboratory contains twelve networked Pentium computers, printers, and both flatbed and film scanners. The hardware is configured to run ARC-GIS and ERDAS Imagine software. Significant table space for research is available in several laboratories. The archaeology laboratories also contain artifactual and zooarchaeological collections. These include the following: (1) Near Eastern ceramic collections, (2) lithic collections from North America, Europe, and the Middle East, (3) skeletal collections from North America and Africa, (4) experimental taphonomic bone collections, and (5) zooarchaeological collections from the Middle East. An archaeobotanical laboratory will be established in the near future.