The University of Arizona
 

Detailed Information

Open House for the School of Anthropology
FRIDAY, September 11, 2009; 3–5 p.m.

The 2009 Open House for the School of Anthropology was a great success. We plan to continue this event next year. Please check back towards the beginning of the Fall 2010 semester for more information

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Homol’ovi Research Program

The Arizona State Museum’s Homol’ovi Research Program has explored 13th-14th century ancestral Hopi communities near Winslow, Arizona since 1984. Excavations in six large villages and several smaller villages plus a survey of 30 sq miles surrounding these communities provide an enormous artifact assemblage and database that offer undergraduate and graduate students diverse opportunities to gain experience in laboratory analysis or find research topics from the level of independent studies and undergraduate research papers to theses and dissertations. The 2000 sq ft lab is located in room 301 in the ASM South Building. For more information, contact E. Charles Adams (520-621-2093) or Richard C. Lange (520-621-6275).

Four Corners Learning Expedition

Once a year for eight days at the end of September, Adams and Lange lead a learning expedition through the Four Corners country of the Pueblo Southwest, visiting all the major archaeological cultures, the Hopi Reservation, and taking a trip down the San Juan River. For more details visit the Four Corner Learning Expedition pages or contact Darlene Lizarraga (520-626-8381).

Public Programs/Education

If interested, contact Lisa Falk, Director of Education (520-626-2973).

Apply your interest in culture to bring the ideas and content of the museum to a broad public. Make the work of the museum assessable to a diverse and broad range of audiences. Learn about museum education and outreach.

School Programs Interpreter

Lead inquiry-based tours through the Paths of Life exhibition for K-12 students. Note: Need to take ANTH330A Interpreting Native Cultures and ANTH393 Museum Interpreter Internship. Receive credit.

School Outreach Presenter

Conduct object-based programs in K-12 schools about Native American and Mexican cultures. Programs include background information, stories, games, and craft projects.

Public Programs Office Assistant

Help plan and prepare materials for public programs around the themes of the exhibitions, collections, and research areas. May include designing discovery hunts, researching activities and cultural presenters, obtaining materials, creating hands-on activities, designing self-guided materials for teachers, and more.

Program Presenter

Help set up for programs and aide cultural tradition bearers and museum specialists with activities, demonstrations and performances at public programs.

Program Evaluation Assistant

Help develop evaluation tools, collect data and compile/analyze the data to inform exhibition and program development and evaluation of effectiveness.

Digital Activities Assistant

Help develop and design online activities aimed at K-21 students to further investigate and learn about the ideas and materials in ASM’s exhibits, programs, collections and research areas. May include creating podcasts, webquests, and other digital activities.

Public Programs/Exhibits

If interested, contact Davison Koenig, Exhibit Coordinator (520-621-6280).

Apply your anthropological background to creating engaging exhibitions that weave research and material culture together in a compelling narrative that reaches a broad audience.

Exhibition Intern

Learn museum exhibition philosophy and methodology by working with our team from exhibit conceptualization to fabrication and installation. Follow an exhibition through the exhibit process working with curators, educators, conservators and exhibitors. Majority of internship involves hands-on experience preparing graphic panels and labels, artifact mount-making and learning the use of fabrication materials such as plexi-glass, gatorboard, MDO, cold-mount adhesive, and brass, but to name a few. This will be coupled with the proper use of power tools and their safety practices. Creativity, manual dexterity and an ironic sense of humor always a plus.

Flexible work schedules available.

Borderlands Archaeology Laboratory

The Borderlands Archaeology Laboratory is directed by Paul Fish and Suzanne Fish. The Laboratory’s ongoing archaeological programs emphasize interdisciplinary research on the prehispanic archaeology of southern Arizona and adjacent northwest Mexico and the traditional agriculture of this region. Laboratory researchers maintain close ties with Mexican colleagues and act as UA institutional representatives for an International Agreement with the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia. Core research themes are: 1) Land use and landscape as the interface between societies and their environments, and 2) societal institutions for the organization of population and territory. The Laboratory also serves as a base for graduate student projects and undergraduate research in the region. Current projects address hilltop trincheras sites of the Borderlands, preceramic and early agricultural settlements near Tucson, platform mound communities of the Hohokam Classic period in southern Arizona, the Casas Grandes Medio period in Chihuahua, and the prehispanic cultures of northern Sonora.

The Borderlands Laboratory offers research space for graduate students with related regional interests. Undergraduates periodically undertake internships and independent studies in the context of laboratory investigations. Depending on grant funding, research assistantships, undergraduate jobs, and work study positions may be available. The Laboratory houses extensive Hohokam collections from the Tucson Basin and provides access to largescale survey data from southern Arizona and northern Sonora for use in student projects.For more information, contact Paul Fish (520-621-2556) or Suzanne Fish (520-626-8290).

Spring 2010 Archaeological Field School

ASM’s Borderlands Laboratory regularly collaborates with the School of Anthropology to offer a spring semester archaeological field school for undergraduate and graduate students. The six-credit hour field school (ANT 442a and,b or 642a and b) is taught by Paul Fish and Suzanne Fish on designated weekdays, allowing students to take additional courses during the spring semester. Regional field trips are included on several weekends. In spring, 2010, investigations will take place at University Indian Ruin, a Hohokam archaeological preserve in Tucson. The research will combine test excavations and artifact analysis with ground penetrating radar and total station mapping to study the developmental sequence of adobe buildings on a platform mound and in surrounding residential compounds. An extended course description, research discussion, and application information can be found at http://anthro.web.arizona.edu/programs/field_schools.phpOpens in a new window

Southwest Land, Culture and Society Program

As a joint undertaking of the School of Anthropology and the Arizona State Museum, the Southwest Land, Culture, and Society is intended to serve as a formalized node , interconnecting faculty and students with anthropological interests in the Southwest U.S. and northern Mexico. A focus on the interrelationships between the environment, culture, and society of the Greater Southwest over the past 12,000 years is a central part of the program’s mission. The program’s faculty include a wide range of interests in the region and teach and teach in varied University units. A core course for the program is Southwest Land and Society (ANTH/ARL/LAS/AIS 418/518) is offered annually, surveys human societies in the region from earliest times to the present, and is co-taught by an ethnographer/ethnohistorian and an archaeologist. For more information about the program, contact Paul Fish (coordinator) or consult our website: http://info-center.ccit.arizona.edu/~swst/Opens in a new window

Bioarchaeology Lab/Program

The Bioarchaeology Lab and ASM’s Bioarchaeology Collections provide students and faculty alike with opportunities to study the biological variation of past peoples of Arizona. The lab has numerous opportunities for undergrad and grad student volunteers (who have taken the Human Osteology class--offered this Fall) to process and analyze a variety of human skeletal remains, participate in burial excavations at local archaeological sites, and assist with NAGPRA compliance and the state repatriation process. Often student employment opportunities arise from long-term projects run by the lab. Our extensive collections offer the opportunity for students and faculty to address unique hypotheses about the lives of Arizona’s past peoples. In addition, Dr. Watson's and Dr. McClelland's research projects offer additional opportunities in Bioarchaeology in Arizona and Sonora. Numerous thesis and dissertation topics await in the lab, collections, and among our field work in bioarchaeology.

In addition to the research potential of our work, research, and collections described above, the Bioarchaeology Lab has numerous replicas of human skeletal material for teaching purposes. We are also available for consultation and/or collaboration on faculty or student projects that may involve human remains or address questions of human variation or health. Our work provides time-depth to these issues and a bio-cultural evolutionary perspective. For more information, contact Dr. James Watson (520-621-4794) or Dr. John McClelland (520-626-2950).

Stanley J. Olsen Laboratory of Zooarchaeology

The Stanley J. Olsen Laboratory of Zooarchaeology at the Arizona State Museum is one of the top laboratories for zooarchaeological research in North America. The Lab houses a large reference collection of close to 4000 fish, bird, reptile, amphibian, and mammal skeletal specimens from over 600 species. The collections include specimens from six continents; however, most specimens were collected from the southeastern and southwestern regions of North America. The Olsen Lab is used by students, visiting scholars, and volunteers, as well as for public outreach activities. The collections have been used in many University of Arizona courses, as well as for undergraduate and graduate student theses, dissertations, and research projects. The laboratory is also a significant source of employment for current graduate and undergraduate students, as well as volunteers, internships, and independent study opportunities.For more information, contact Dr. Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman (520-626-3989).

Office of Ethnohistorical Research

The Office of Ethnohistorical Research, in room 320, will be open for visitors on September 11. If it is not possible for participants to visit our office during the open house, we are amenable to scheduling formal visits within the following week. Contact Dr. Michael Brescia (520-621-4895) or Dr. Dale Brenneman (520-621-6278).

With its impressive collection of microfilmed Spanish colonial documents and a library with more than 8,000 secondary works, reference materials, indexes to major archival collections, maps, and guides to paleography and translation, OER offers plenty of resources for student and faculty researchers interested in the ethnohistory, documentary history, environmental history, and/or political ecology of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In addition, OER’s documentary history projects present employment and volunteer opportunities (typically 6 to 8 at a time) for qualified bilingual graduate students who gain first-hand experience in reading, transcribing, translating, and annotating colonial documents, as well as training in the principles of documentary editing and the critical use of primary sources and secondary literature. Opportunities also exist for 1 or 2 undergraduate work-study students or volunteers involving the organization of an increasing volume of digital archival materials.

OER welcomes ideas for collaboration with interested faculty in its research and programs. One of our current endeavors, the O’odham–Pee Posh Documentary History Project, is a collaboration involving other ASM faculty as well as the O’odham–Pee Posh communities. A project to translate the letters of Philipp Segesser, a German-speaking Swiss Jesuit priest who served some 36 years in Sonora, has enlisted the help of German Studies faculty and students. And OER’s collections made our office the ideal location for a paleography class conducted by faculty from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in years past. Students employed on our projects or conducting research in our office have come to us from a variety of disciplines, including Anthropology, Archaeology, History, and Linguistics as well as Religious Studies and Spanish.

In terms of public outreach, OER hosts at least one learning expedition each year that brings the history and culture of the Greater Southwest alive for the general public. We have visited Spanish missions and presidios, ranches and land grant homesteads, in an effort to show the public the links between the past and the present. Faculty and graduate students interested in sharing their knowledge of and expertise in Spanish missions, presidios, Mexican frontier life, and ecological change are encouraged to discuss with OER faculty how they might participate.

Gloria F. Ross Tapestry Program

Under the direction of Dr. Ann Hedlund, The Gloria F. Ross Tapestry Program at Arizona State Museum conducts original research on topics that include prehistoric and ethnographic textile analysis, native Southwestern weaving traditions, and contemporary fiber art trends. Occasional projects are available for volunteers and interns interested in native craft specialization and organization, photo documentation of handweaving and weavers, and development of the online Joe Ben Wheat Database of Southwestern Textiles. The Program sponsors periodic lectures, exhibits and other public events. For more information, visit http://www.tapestrycenter.orgOpens in a new window

Conservation Laboratory

Arizona State Museum's Preservation Division actively supports and promotes the museum's policy to preserve and protect the collections entrusted to its care. The treatment of objects is guided by the principle that the integrity of the object should be preserved in every way possible. The ASM Conservation Lab provides preventive and interventive conservation of ASM's vast collections, serves the public through workshops and queries, instructs scores of conservation students, and continues to conduct cutting-edge research. Investigations conducted in the lab include:

  • characterization tests for objects of art and archaeology
  • testing of pesticide residues on museum objects
  • new protocols for ceramic care
  • integrated pest management systems

For more information contact Dr. Nancy Odegaard, Head of Preservation (520-621-6314).

Antiquity Act Permits and Repatriation Office

Three Arizona statutes protect paleontological and archaeological sites 100 years old or older on State lands. Two addition Arizona statutes protect human graves and funerary objects 50 years old or older on both State and private lands. The Arizona State Museum’s Antiquity Act Permits and Repatriation Office is responsible for overseeing a number of compliance related activities related to these laws including the issuance of paleontological and archaeological permits; issuance of burial agreements; and coordinating compliance projects with federal and state land managing agencies, tribes, and private land owners. The office conducts archaeological damage assessments and works close with law enforcement agencies investigating antiquity violations. For more information, contact John H. Madsen, Associate Curator of Archaeology (520-621-4795).

ASM Library

ASM Library was the very first independent library established on the UA campus in 1957 by a bequest from Rev. Victor Stoner, a graduate of the UA Anthropology Department. The Library continues to offer its resources to the campus and broader community Monday-Thursday, 10am -3pm . It is a non-circulating research collection focusing on the archaeology, ethnology and material culture of the American southwest and northern Mexico. The collection strengths also include museum studies, ethnohistory, dissertations and thesis from the Anthropology Department and the American Indian Studies Program and archaeology and cultural resource management gray literature.

The online collection catalog is available at http://larc.asmua.arizona.edu. The catalog includes the bibliographic holdings of the ASM Library, Archives, Office of Ethnohistorical Research Library, Archaeological Records Office and the Archaeological Repository.

The Librarians, Mary Graham and Marly Helm, are happy to provide class tours and instruction. Reserve readings (non-electronic) may be arranged in the ASM Library for courses if desired. We also provide internship and volunteer opportunities.

For more information, contact Mary Graham or Marly Helm at the ASM Library (520-621-4695).

ASM Archives

ASM Archives curates paper records, paper maps, and sound recordings related to the Museum's other collections, and include records fromcontract archaeology, archaeological fieldschools, ethnographic fieldwork, and the personal research papers of various ASM staff, UA Dept. of Anthropology Faculty and former students, and private individuals who have donated their materials. Some of the archaeological and ethnographic materials held by the Archives have restrictions on access to protect site location information, personal information, or sensitive cultural information. Access is by appointment only. Contact Archivist Alan Ferg (520-621-2970).

ASM Website

Our website http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu has been consistently praised for the depth of its content aimed at both general and scholarly audiences. Information available ranges from online games and exhibits to scholarly papers and databases to podcasts and a blog. Students have worked on technical aspects of many website projects including preparing images of collections, creating text and image-based web pages, programming complex web applications and developing online games. Students have also worked on non-technical aspects of content development in partnership with ASM curators and public programs staff. For more information about the website and opportunities to assist, or if you have project ideas, contact Laura LePere (520-626-6939).

Photographic Collections

The Photographic Collections contain over 350,000 photographic prints, negatives and transparencies illustrating the prehistory and ethnology of the Greater Southwest. The Collection's emphasis is on prehistoric and historic Southwestern archaeology and the ethnology of the Native Peoples of the American Southwest and Northwest Mexico. Photographs documenting both fieldwork and artifacts are available. Major collections document archaeological excavations at Ventana Cave, Snaketown, Naco, Lehner, Point of Pines, and Grasshopper. A sampling of ethnographic materials includes: O'odham tribes; contemporary craft artists from the Hopi, Apache and O'odham tribes; contemporary use of traditional farming methods; historic photos by Daniel Linderman of Piman people and by Grenville Goodwin of Western Apache. Special collections cover such diverse topics as aesthetic photography in Arizona, mission architecture of Sonora, Mexico, Mexican Indian costumes and masks, and ethnoarchaeology in the Philippines. Please contact Rebecca Donnelly (520-621-2445) for research requests and photographic permissions.

AZSITE

Any ground-disturbing activity on state land, such as archaeological research or commercial development can result in the destruction of Arizona's cultural resources. Under the Arizona Antiquities Act, ground-disturbing activities on state land must be preceded by a survey and identification of any physical evidence of past human activity.

Under this same law, the Arizona State Museum has a responsibility to help protect the cultural resources on state land. Through a system of archaeological permits management and documentation of the survey activities, the Museum preserves a record of what may be changed or destroyed by present and future activities on state land.

The records generated by these activities are archived at the Arizona State Museum. In addition to archiving site cards, maps, reports, and field notes, the Arizona State Museum records site and survey data, and indexes the other archived materials in a relational database, AZSITE.

AZSITE is used by land managers, archaeologists, and a variety of scholars as an archaeological research and resource management tool. Records are available to qualified archaeologists and land managers at the Museum or online.

AZSITE has now gone mainstream with AZSITE PublicOpens in a new window. While the new, publicly accessible portal does require users to register and generate a username and password, there are no restrictions on who can register. For more information, contact Chris Cleary or Rick Karl in the AZSITE Office (520-621-1271).

Repository Collections

The Archaeological Repository at the ASM is responsible for accepting, processing, cataloging and caring for all archaeological materials generated by the various archaeological investigations undertaken by contracting companies and field schools working in the state received by the Museum through repository agreements. Through this process the Museum acquires not only the objects, but also receives all reports, and the supporting written and photographic documentation. This material is checked in, electronic inventories prepared, and the paper and digital archives prepared for storage. The staff of two permanent members and a crew of student assistants photograph and catalog individual objects for incorporation into the collection. The repository staff then facilitates the study of these collections by making them available to students, researchers and exhibitors, either by providing space for researchers or through loans to appropriate institutions (Museums, Contract companies, Academic departments, etc.). For more information, contact Arthur W. Vokes (Repository Curator) or Courtney Fischrup (Assistant Repository Curator) in the Repository Collections Office (520-626-9109).

Ethnological Collections

ASM's ethnological collections—about 26,000 items—represent over 400 different culture groups. More than one third are from the SW United States and NW Mexico. In addition to the collections from the Southwest, the remaining collections are from other parts of North America, Central and South America, Africa, Oceania and Asia.

Southwestern collections consist primarily of basketry, pottery, and textiles. Katsinas, carved masks, jewelry and beadwork are also well represented. As well, the collections contain a wide variety of other utilitarian artifacts, such as musical instruments, weapons, and household tools. The collections date mostly from the 1880s to the 1980s.

Plains and Great Lakes beadwork, Mexican masks, Philippine pottery, and select examples of African and Oceanic sculpture are but a few of the other artifact categories in the Arizona State Museum's extensive and varied ethnographic holdings. The ethnological collections at ASM are indexed by several databases. These databases are currently accessible in-house, but plans are underway to offer online access. For more information contact Diane Dittemore (520-621-2079).

Archaeology Collections

The collections consist of ca. 175,000 cataloged items, c. 20,000 cubic feet of research collections, c. 15,000 site survey collections, and several thousand type sherds.

The ASM archaeological collections focus on the Greater Southwest. In addition, the collections also include small collections of material from other parts of North America, South America, and the Old World. Archaeological collections are organized into Catalog Collection, Research Collection, Site Survey Collection, and Southwestern Sherd Library.

The Catalog Collection contains the primary reference materials for archaeological projects. These items are frequently used for exhibition, illustration in special publications and catalogs, teaching, and general comparative studies.

The Research Collection constitutes the primary documentation of the published and unpublished analyses of archaeological projects. These collections are used in a variety of ways, including preparation for further field work in the same area or adjacent areas, and for restudies or more intensive studies of major artifact classes and other problem-oriented research.

The Site Survey Collection consists of small diagnostic samples of sherds and lithics from thousands of sites across Arizona. These collections can be used to determine spatial and temporal outlines of prehistoric cultures in the region.

The Southwestern Sherd Library consists of samples of Southwestern pottery types from sites throughout the range of occurrence of the type. The Library is used for comparative research and for identification and teaching purposes by Museum staff and scholars and students.

Archaeological collections at ASM are accessible for study to students and scholars by application to the Curator of Collections or the Archaeological Collections Curator. Access may be granted for study at the Museum or, in some instances, by loan to a scholar's home institution. The archaeological collections at ASM are indexed by several databases. These databases are currently accessible in-house, but plans are underway to offer on-line access. For information, contact Mike Jacobs (520-621-6312).

The Pottery Vault

The Pottery Vault stores some 20,000 Southwest Indian whole-vessel archaeological and ethnological ceramics that are the focus of ASM's POTTERY PROJECT. Spanning 2000 years of life in the unique environments of the American desert Southwest and northern Mexico, the collection reflects almost every cultural group in the region. This collection—the largest and most comprehensive of its kind—is one of the nation's most significant cultural resources. It has been designated an Official Project of the Save America's Treasures program, a public private partnership between the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation to celebrate and preserve our nation's cultural legacy. For more information about the ethnological pottery contact Diane Dittemore (520-621-2079); and questions about the archaeological pottery to Mike Jacobs (520-621-6312).

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