Archeoinformatics at Penn State
program description
A team of researchers including archaeologists and information technology specialists from the College of Information Science and Technology are currently working with scholars at other universities to develop cyberinfrastructure tools for archaeological applications.
Research emphasis
Cyberinfrastructure
The rapid growth of databases and gray literature has outstripped traditional means for sharing and dissemination, and Penn State’s archaeologists are part of a broader effort to meet the new challenges. The team is working with similar teams at Arizona State, Arkansas, and Washington State to develop funding for this broad disciplinary effort. A strategic plan for cyberinfrastructure development is outlined in an article published in Science by Snow et al. It can be found in Vol. 311, pages 958-959.
Department anthropologists
Kenneth G. Hirth, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology (kgh2@psu.edu): Settlement Patterns
George R. Milner, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology (ost@psu.edu): Human osteology (paleodemography and paleopathology) and land use
Lee Newsom, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology (lan12@psu.edu): paleoethnobotany, plant domestication
Dean R. Snow, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology (drs17@psu.edu): Paleodemography, migration, and settlement patterns
David L. Webster, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology (dxw16@psu.edu): Long-term population trends and agricultural staples and systems
Departmental facilities and field school
Students regularly participate in laboratory and field-based research on individual projects and in shared facilities such as the department's Geographic Information System (GIS) facility.
Bioarchaeology: For analyses of human skeletal remains and archaeological materials from the American Midwest and Southeast.
GIS Facility: For computer-based spatial analyses of cultural and ecological data.
Mesoamerica: For analyses of lithic technology, use wear, petrographics, and spatial analysis (GIS)
Copan archaeology: For analysis of a huge spatial data base acquired since 1980.
North America: For analyses of archaeological materials from the American Northeast.
Paleoethnobotany: For analyses of plant remains in various preservation states and forms, with emphasis on the Neotropics and southeastern North America
Matson Museum: For training in collections management and exhibit design
Other University Facilities and Programs
Breazeale Nuclear Reactor
Center for Quantitative Imaging
Forensic Science Program
Institutes of the Environment
Materials Research Institute
courses
Graduate application and undergraduate registration information
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