Research in Anthropology


Archaeology and Osteology Labs

Archaeological materials are brought to the Cobb Institute from various projects conducted by the research associates and their field technicians (usually students) and from field schools. Typical field methods include water-screening the soil from excavation units through 1/4 inch mesh screen and through 1/16 inch mesh
screen. Snails for environmental analysis are typically recovered from such fine mesh.

Employment is available throughout the semester at the Cobb processing the artifacts and ecofacts recovered from fieldwork. Students can increase their chances of obtaining these jobs by taking field school and by volunteering. There are excellent opportunities to explore archaeology and biological anthropology hands-on at the Cobb Institute of Archaeology.


[ back to top ]

Bioarchaeology

Logtooth Clean

Bioarchaeologists examine and document skeletal remains recovered from archaeological sites to test hypothesis and draw inferences about health, diet and nutrition, disease, demography, and behaviors. To the right is a photo of a premolar surface magnified 13 times. The tooth is from early Kentuckian from Logan's Fort, a late 18th century Frontier from the southern Kentucky Bluegrass region. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) located on campus (emcenter.msstate.edu) is available to image archaeological samples. At much higher magnification, pits and scratches on the tooth surface, known as microwear features, can be observed. The frequencies of these features are used to understand the types of foods consumed. Scratches are associated with soft foods such as maize while pits result from eating hard foods like nuts. This method is useful for understanding how diets change though time.

Image of the interior of the osteology teaching lab
Inside the osteology teaching lab. Computers are available for archaeological lab use as well as anthropology student use. The comparative zooarchaeological, lithic and historical artifact collections are curated here.


Image of the interior of the osteology lab
Washing and drying are done outside of these labs, and arifacts and ecofacts are separated, catalogued, and analyzed here.


[ back to top ]