Kevin E. Smith

kesmith@mtsu.edu

Ed Kick

Sociology/Anthropology

Discipline specific equipment

PH109/111

New Technology

N/A

Laboratory experience is central to students in archaeology and forensic/biological anthropology. As noted in Teaching Archaeology in the Twenty-First Century: “Students planning a career in archaeology must have mastered a set of basic cognitive and methodological skills that will enable them to operate effectively in … laboratory contexts... Upper division courses need to ensure that students graduating with a specialization in archaeology acquire these skills.” Our external program reviewer noted the inadequacy of lab facilities and equipment for students in these areas. Due to the lack of available facilities and equipment, we have not been able to implement the lab components of several courses. This proposal includes renovations to PH 109 and 111 to create a fully-functional archaeology and biological anthropology laboratory. The facility and equipment will be used by for laboratory exercises in ANTH 2230, 3210, 3310, and 3520 (120 students/semester). Requested equipment (fossil casts, skeletal comparative sets) will also be used to introduce a hands-on element into our General Education ANTH 2210 World Prehistory course (200 students/semester). Core courses with substantive use of the lab facility and equipment include Archaeological Methods, Forensic Anthropology, Environmental Archaeology, and the summer Archaeology School (80 students/semester). Interdisciplinary programs in archaeology and forensics/biological anthropology serve students from several colleges – particularly the natural sciences, history, criminal justice, psychology, and geosciences.