Zooarcheology
program description
Zooarchaeology is the study of bones and horn cores found in archealological sites. The specimens are normally the fossilized or near fossilized hard parts of the skeleton, exceptionally they may be unfossilized bonesand teeth or invertibrates shells. Such specimens are frequently the disposed refuse of habitation by ancient populations otherwise they may be commensal animals. The study of these remains helps archaeologists understand past human subsistence strategies and faunal analysis of these remains say a lot about paleoenvironmnets and landscapes.
research emphasis
department anthropologists
Pat Shipman Adjunct Professor of Biological Anthropology
Brian Hesse, Professor Jewish Studies, faunal analysis, Near East bch11@psu.edu
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
links
