Graduate School Bulletin

Spring 2023

Facilities of Anthropology Department

Extensive laboratory space as well as desk space is available for graduate students. The archaeology and biological anthropology labs housed in the Department of Anthropology provide facilities for the analysis of artifact collections, especially stone tools, faunal and botanical remains, application of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), analysis of primate and human remains, advanced electron microscopy (EM), and primate endocrinology. Housed in the department are archaeological collections from Africa and the Near East. A fully equipped preparation lab provides opportunities for state-of-the-art mineralized tissue research. Laboratories also contain scanning and digitizing equipment and analysis software for 3D datasets (e.g., micro-computed tomography [uCT]). The laboratory for endocrine analyses contains a gamma counter and a plate reader necessary for most immunoassays.

Outside of the Anthropology Department, students may have access to the research facilities for comparative primate morphology, human anatomy, and human and primate evolution housed in the Department of Anatomical Sciences, which are at present unparalleled at any other institution. The collections include primate fossils, primate osteological material from Africa, Asia, and South America, and living nonhuman primates, including platyrrhine and cercopithecoid monkeys and lemurs. Students interested in experimental animal models for the study of functional morphology or morphogenesis have access to core facilities, including modern small animal facilities, uCT imaging, and confocal imaging systems.

Field work opportunities may be available in primate behavioral ecology, paleontology, and archaeology. Primate behavior research is conducted in Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. Paleontological field research is current in Argentina, Kenya. Madagascar, South Africa, and Zambia. The archaeology faculty have active field sites in Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, France, Madagascar, Maine, and Bolivia. The Turkana Basin Institute provides students with access to field opportunities for paleontology and archaeology in northern Kenya.