Overall, NAU Anthropology is blessed with quality teaching and research facilities. NAU Anthropology currently uses space in three separate areas of campus: North Campus, Central Campus, and South Campus. On North Campus we use a room in Bury Hall that houses Dr. Trotter’s HIV/AIDS Project Data. On Central Campus, Anthropology personnel occupy Building 49, and four labs in the nearby
NAU Anthropology resources and facilities fall into four categories: teaching and research laboratories, classrooms, and faculty/administrative facilities. At the close of this section, we describe NAU Anthropology needs in these areas.
Anthropology Computing Laboratory (ACL)
Our Anthropology Computing Lab, now housed in facilities in swing space (Bld 98A) Room 102, provides students with a teaching lab, an interactive classroom, and a graphics, quantitative analysis, and text analysis facility. Extremely heavy lab use and the necessity to maintain student training at industry standard and state-of-the-art requires yearly updating of machines and software.
NAU graduate students working diligently in the Anthropology Computing Laboratory.
Photo credit Jacki Mullen.
The Department currently teaches a variety of visual anthropology and multimedia production workshops. We also produced a number of visual anthropology projects. We therefore developed a state-of-the-art computer lab that focuses on video/DVD editing and production. The lab is equipped with a variety of Mac computers (from older to relatively current models) and software that is ideal for video production. The lab is being used for classes, training, and faculty and student projects. In addition, Dr. Wilce uses the lab for his linguistic anthropology laboratory class (ANT 514).
Hopi Footprints Project Office
The Hopi Footprints Office recently moved into a large space in Building 98A (Emerald City Swing Space). The office houses four project staff for the NEH sponsored project.
The majority of our classes are held in the SBS and SBS West buildings, located approximately ten minutes from faculty offices in Building 98D. The Department only has two classrooms in Building 98D. Room 110 provides a small seminar venue that holds approximately 10 students. Room 106 provides a second seminar meeting facility that holds 25 students. Both rooms receive heavy use for class meetings, committee meetings, and graduate defenses.
Administrative Offices
Anthropology administrative functions take place in Bldg. 98D. An Administrative Assistant, Office Specialist, and student workers occupy the Anthropology Administrative office. The Anthropology Laboratories Administrative Office is located in Building 49 where the Administrative Associate and student employees working on laboratory projects are located. The office also houses the Labs’ extensive map collections, records, and graphic computer lab.
NAU Anthropology Faculty Offices
All faculty offices are located in Bldg. 98D, the Swing Space on South Campus. All 15 full-time faculty and all part-time faculty, the number of whom range from three to seven for a given semester, work in Bldg. 98D. The Hopi Cultural Preservation Office occupies Room 109D. An archaeologist for the National Park Service also has an office in Building 98D. Graduate assistants share eight cubicles in Room 104.
In addition to faculty offices, NAU Anthropology has a lounge/kitchen and several gathering places for students and faculty in Building 98D.
Building 49
Building 49 on Central campus houses Dr. Gumerman’s Moche Foodways Archaeological Project, Dr. Smiley’s Colorado Plateau Agricultural Origins Project, Dr. Downum’s National Park Service Projects, Dr. Wilce’s Anthropology Audio-Video Analysis Lab, and the biological anthropology lab, as well as contract and research project space for the Anthropology Laboratory offices.
Archaeology Materials Analysis Laboratories
Also located on Central Campus the
Each lab has microscopes, storage facilities, and the Ceramics Lab has a kiln for ceramic source research. The Paleoethnobotany Lab has a flotation system for recovery of minute floral specimens from archaeological soil samples. Each lab has wet section for washing materials preparatory to analysis and a dry section for analysis. Each also has a small, semi-secure storage room for short-term collections storage.
Faunal Analysis Lab
The Faunal Analysis Lab houses a comparative collection of modern mammal bones from the American southwest and provides a teaching and training facility for graduate and undergraduate students. The collection is used for teaching and research projects. Most of the research in the fauna lab is on student projects, both in Anthropology and Quaternary Studies. The lab also provides a secure place for storage and study of faunal materials received on loan for research purposes from museums around the country. The space currently is shared with the Navajo Nation Archaeology Department.
Lithic Analysis Lab
The Lithic Analysis Lab, directed by Dr. Francis E. Smiley, holds lithic comparative collections from northern
The lab has two Wild Leica binocular microscopes for analysis of lithic materials and provides a teaching and training facility for graduate and undergraduate students. Currently, the lab provides facilities for the analysis of materials from the Colorado Plateau Agricultural Origins Project field excavations in southeastern
Ceramic Analysis Lab
The Ceramic Analysis Lab, directed by Dr. Kelley Hays-Gilpin, provides a facility for taking on contracts to analyze pottery from salvage and research projects anywhere on the Colorado Plateau and provides a teaching and training facility for graduate and undergraduate students. The lab is also used by the Navajo Nation Archaeology Department to analyze pottery from several contract projects and by students taking ANT 552, Ceramic Analysis. The ceramic lab houses comparative collections of pottery and samples of clay and other materials from
Paleoethnobotany Lab
Directed by Dr. Andrea Hunter and Dr. George Gumerman, this lab provides a facility for research and contractual work on archaeologically recovered prehistoric plant remains. The facility has heavy use by two very active faculty members and numerous student workers, graduate researchers, and project employees. The materials processed and analyzed in the lab come from
The Room 30 teaching laboratory provides facilities specifically for teaching archaeological materials analysis and biological anthropology. Much of the equipment for the lab was purchased through an NSF ILI grant that was matched by the College. The lab contains ten Leica Wild microscopes, an image analysis system that includes a a computer, pad cam system, digitizer, and image-transmission-equipped microscope.
The teaching lab is an interactive classroom, while also providing resources for student research and independent study. A variety of teaching collections, including fauna, flora, lithic, ceramic, and human skeletal casts, are available for use.
Former Anthropology graduate student, Maria Dawson, works with the Leica Wild microscope in Room 30 in DuBois.
Photo credit Dr. Francis Smiley
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