Archaeology Labs

The Connecticut College Department of Anthropology maintains several archaeological laboratories at the basement level of Winthrop Hall.

The archaeology labs are at the center of an Immersive Archaeology Curriculum (IAC) and are designed to allow students to gain first-hand experience with research design, theory, method, and analytic techniques in the context of ongoing faculty research projects.

Currently, the archaeology labs are used in several classes, including Anthropology 102, 202, 340, 382, 383, 390 and 406.

Our facilities include:

Paleoanthropology and Zooarchaeology Lab

This space is devoted to the study of hominin evolution as well as the anthropological study of economy and resource use as evaluated with animal remains. Holdings include a recently expanded collection of fossil hominin casts and an ever-growing assemblage of vertebrate and invertebrate comparative animal specimens.

Middle-Range Archaeological Research Lab

This lab is a focal point for ethnoarchaeological and experimental research projects that explore the multifaceted relationships of objects to behavior. Current projects address a variety of topics: (1) how attributes of built space shape decisions concerning illicit activities; (2) the relationship of smoking to identity and time use; (3) atlatl technology; (4) the interpretive value of fire-cracked rock in household contexts; and (5) mortuary symbolism. The lab maintains PC and Mac computing equipment (for database, mapping, and GIS applications), a scanner, GPS units, electronic distance measuring units, among other digital equipment.

North American Archaeological Research Lab

The North American Lab houses a variety of large comparative collections and reference materials for student training in lithic analysis, seriation, and materials identification. Archaeological collections stemming from Professor Graesch’s ongoing research on households and colonialism in the Pacific Northwest provide opportunities for students to acquire one-on-one training in laboratory methods in conjunction with an active research project.

Archaeology Wet Lab

Our Wet Lab space is essential to the washing of artifacts and the flotation of soil samples for macro-botanical and micro-artifact analysis.

Archaeology Storage

This space is devoted to storing a variety of archaeology field equipment and curating collections generated by the late Professor Harold Juli.