Anthropology Laboratories

The Archaeological Ceramics Lab provides space, tools, and technology to process, sort, categorize, and analyze archaeological pottery. The type collection (reference collection) housed in the Ceramics Lab is available to researchers working on the Colorado Plateau and students studying Southwest Archaeology. In addition to the Colorado Plateau, written and digital reference materials available to Ceramics Lab users also cover the Northern and Middle Rio Grande regions of New Mexico.

The Digital Archaeology Lab supports collaborative efforts to increase socially conscious dissemination of anthropological-archaeological data and to serve as a space where undergraduate and graduate students can carry out small or large research projects that are computationally demanding like image analysis and 3D modeling. Here researchers can create digital archaeological maps, 3-D color images of archaeological sites and features, and creative renderings of ancient human life.

The Environmental Archaeology Lab is supporting research projects across North America, using techniques of Geoarchaeology, Macrobotanical Analyses, and Phytolith Analyses to explore human-environment interactions and agricultural activities through the lenses of plants and soil. The EnviroArch Lab collaborates with other labs on campus to connect students to opportunities for radiocarbon dating and protein residue analyses. The EnviroArch Lab also collaborates with a local professional pollen lab to provide students training in pollen analysis and laboratory work in an applied cultural resource management setting.

The EFECT Lab specializes in work on applied anthropological, ethnobiological, inter- and transdisciplinary research that is collaborative, ethical, and community-based.

NAU’s Ethnographic Collections consist of from around the world that have been donated to the department over the past 70 years. These are available for research and display but have not yet been adequately cataloged and stored for preservation and access.

The Faunal Analysis Lab provides a facility for a compara­tive collection of modern mammal bones from the American Southwest; a teaching and training facility for graduate and undergraduate stu­dents; research in the fauna lab for student projects, both in Anthropology and Quaternary Studies; and a secure place for storage and study of faunal materials on loan from museums around the country.

The Historical Archaeology Lab focuses on collaborative research, public archaeology, and student engagement in investigating the 19th- and 20th-century American West and Southwest. For current and past projects, the Lab has partnered with the Kaibab National Forest, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Navajo Nation, the Museum of Northern Arizona, and NAU’s Interns-to-Scholars Programs. Through both collections research and archaeological excavations and surveys, the lab addresses questions of identity, culture contact, labor, and domesticity. The Historical Archaeology Lab also houses a growing type collection of historical artifacts from throughout Arizona.

Research in the Mesoamerican Archaeology Laboratory focuses on the emergence of social, political and economic complexity among ancient Mesoamerican pre-industrial societies, and the role of the environment in these processes. We study the ancient Maya and their neighbors through site excavation, survey, artifact analysis, iconographic studies, spatial analysis, and archaeometric analyses.

The Story Lab serves as a central location for learning and best practices for community-engaged research and storytelling in northern Arizona. Faculty, students, and community partners develop and implement interdisciplinary projects in community engagement, social justice, youth participation, and creative arts research. With a focus on storytelling related to medical anthropology and community health, partners develop projects and conduct training sessions on ethics, primary data collection, mixed-methods analysis, and dissemination of findings through professional presentations and publications.

The Social Science Forensic Lab houses replica skeletal bones and molds of teeth, joints, and different sections of bone for close up examination and other specific models for examples of homicidal trauma to bones. Students are able to apply hands-on forensic skills for human versus animal identification and for forensic art sketching as they would in a real-life scenario for law enforcement. The lab is also used for practicums related to course assignments. The adjunct Crime Scene Room (Room 110) is set up to represent a living room or dining room with mannequins placed as homicide victims.

Information coming soon!

Information coming soon!

The Human Biology and Health Lab maintains facilities and equipment to store and prepare various biological samples (e.g., saliva, dried blood spots, urine) for laboratory-based analysis of stress physiology, immune function, and cardiovascular health; houses portable equipment for studies of human biology (e.g., body composition instruments, blood pressure monitors, CardioChek PA systems); has resources, computers, and statistical software for data entry and database management as well as the secure storage of sensitive data; and provides various opportunities for NAU undergraduate and graduate students to learn methods in biocultural anthropology and to engage in human biology research.

Research in the Paleodiet Laboratory, a wet laboratory, focuses on ancient diet, migration, and stress in human and animal populations and how access to resources was partitioned in prehistory. The Paleodiet Lab uses bone, teeth, and hair from Andean archaeological contexts and students at the undergraduate and graduate levels can obtain hands-on training in isotopic processing for collagen and bioapatite.

Information coming soon!