Archaeobotany Laboratory

The Archaeobotany Laboratory, located in 265 Condon Hall, is designed to promote archaeobotanical research that explores the human-environmental interactions and cultural use and modification of plants in the past. Research in the lab includes the early use of plant resources, agricultural origins, domestication of major Asian crops, anthropogenic impact on vegetation, and agro-ecology. The lab is designed to promote training and research in archaeobotany for both undergraduate and graduate students and accommodate sessions for ANTH 446/546 Practical Archaeobotany. The lab is equipped with various microscopes, imaging and computer station to analyze and document both macroscopic and microscopic plant remains. For more information on the laboratory or a volunteering opportunity, contact  Dr. Gyoung-Ah Lee.

Archaeology Teaching Laboratory

We have a number of laboratory spaces that are used for both research and teaching. We encourage undergraduates to contact professors with whom they share interests to seek out research opportunities. In regard to dedicated classroom teaching laboratory space, the Archaeology Teaching Laboratory is located in 204 Condon Hall. The facility is used for undergraduate and graduate archaeology courses, and allows the inclusion of hands-on laboratory exercises involving ceramics, lithics, botanical specimens, and faunal remains. The Archaeology Teaching Laboratory is also used for lectures by visiting speakers.

Biological Anthropology Teaching Laboratory

The Biological Anthropology Teaching Laboratory is located in 368 Condon Hall, and is a dedicated laboratory for the teaching of courses in biological anthropology that have practical ‘hands-on’ learning exercises in human and non-human primate anatomy, dental anthropology, paleontology, and human biology. The teaching lab provides access to teaching collections for biological anthropology discussion sections and advanced laboratory classes. The teaching collection includes human anatomy and osteology teaching specimens, casts of fossil hominids and hominoids, and casts of various non-human primates and other vertebrates. 

Cultural Anthropology Laboratory

The Cultural Laboratory, located in 315 Condon, is a facility for video production and editing, digital audio file transcription, and data analysis. It is equipped with a high capacity Mac computer used exclusively for video editing, as well as a Windows-based PC for audio transcription, graphics editing, and data analysis. The Cultural Laboratory also houses portable equipment, including digital audio recording equipment and a digital video camera, which are available to Anthropology faculty and graduate students on a short-term basis. For more information, contact Dr. Lynn Stephen about software in the lab or to check-out equipment for currently enrolled anthropology students.

Island and Coastal Archaeology Laboratory

The Island and Coastal Archaeology Laboratory (ICAL) is located in Millrace Building 112. Directed by Jon Erlandson (Anthropology Professor and Director of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History) and Scott M. Fitzpatrick (Anthropology Professor), ICAL has been a focus for research on the human history and historical ecology of California’s Channel Islands, the Oregon Coast, Viking Age Iceland, the Florida Keys, Caribbean, and Pacific Islands. The labs are designed to facilitate graduate and undergraduate research, providing multiple workstations containing analytical software, including geographic information systems (GIS), Adobe Illustrator, and statistical software packages (SPSS and SAS). ICAL is a research facility containing comparative collections of lithic materials from the Santa Barbara Channel region and marine shells from the broader Pacific Coast and island regions. The laboratory is used by graduate and undergraduate students in archaeology and offers opportunities for students and volunteers to gain experience in artifact processing, shell midden analysis, stone tool identification, cataloging, and data entry. For more information, contact Dr. Scott Fitzpatrick.

Isotopic Paleoecology Lab

Our research centers on understanding the ecology of hominins, non-human primates, and other mammals in the fossil record. We use a variety of isotopic approaches to study diets, physiology, habitats, and climate, and projects typically involved a combination of laboratory-, field-, and museum-based activities. The lab is equipped for analyzing the stable isotope composition of bioapatites, soil carbonates, and organic materials such as collagen, keratin, plant tissues, and soil organic matter. A laser ablation system enables microanalysis of teeth and other carbonates. For more information, contact Dr. Scott Blumenthal.

Museum of Natural & Cultural History

The Museum of of Natural & Cultural History also maintains comparative faunal collections on campus, ranging from the UO Primate Comparative Collection (housed in Anthropology) to the Condon Collection, the Anthropological Collections Division, and the State Museum of Anthropology’s zooarchaeology laboratory. The museum has extensive collections of vertebrate and shellfish specimens from around the world, including extensive collections of birds, bird eggs, and much more.

The Archaeological Research Division of the MNCH, also known as the State Museum of Anthropology, houses a comparative faunal collection at the Museum’s Moss Street building. The zooarchaeological collection at Moss Street houses 950 reference specimens for 127 species of birds, 75 species of mammals, 14 species of fish, and 20 species of reptiles and amphibians. The collection emphasizes taxa from the interior portions of Oregon to complement the coastal emphasis of the Zooarchaeology Laboratory at 264 Condon Hall.

Primate Morphometrics Lab

The Primate Morphometrics Lab is directed by Dr. Frost and provides access to skeletal and dental research and reference collections, including human and non-human primate skeletal and dental materials. The lab also has equipment for the preparation of histological sections and digital analysis for several types of morphometric techniques used to quantify variation in biological shape. This includes a Minolta laser surface scanner (LSS) which builds 3-D surface models, primarily of fossils, bones, and teeth, but could be used for other similarly-sized objects. The lab also includes facilities for the processing of those models, including both editing of the LSS models, landmarking, and virtual reconstruction, as well as statistical analyses. For more information on primate morphometrics, contact Dr. Steve Frost.

Southeast Asian Archaeology Lab

The Southeast Asian Archaeology Lab is located in 256 Condon Hall and is dedicated to studying the archaeology of Southeast Asia, and especially the archaeology of the Angkorian civilization in Cambodia. Research by Dr. Alison Carter focuses on household archaeology, including soil chemistry of anthropogenic house floors as well as the study of stone and glass beads. For more information, please contact Dr. Alison Carter.

STAR (Stress, Adaptation, And Resilience) Lab

The STAR lab conducts biocultural  research addressing how stress, resilience and other social determinants of health “get under the skin” via experiential and physiological pathways. One aim of this work is  to understand gender and sex-based social experiences and embodied marginalization in order to reduce negative health outcomes among those most vulnerable to social stress effects. Research in this area includes mixed-methods studies of transgender experience and health integrating biomarkers of stress and health with in-person interviews and ethnographic methods. The lab also contributes to methodological developments to facilitate the integration of biomarker measures in work among vulnerable populations. Emerging research includes primate conservation and ethnoprimatological projects.

There are many opportunities to get involved in this research, for both undergraduate and graduate students. Contact Dr. L. Dubois if you are interested in joining our group. Our current projects include:

• Resilience in Sociopolitical Context: Multi-sited trans health study involving interviews and biomarker collection with trans and gender diverse people in OR, MI, NE, TN, and Montreal, Canada.
• The Transition Experience Study: Currently conducting qualitative analyses of interviews conducted with 65 trans men during their transition.
• Oral History/Podcast Development

For more information, please contact Dr. L. Zachary DuBois.

Zooarchaeology Lab

The Zooarchaeology Lab is located in 264 Condon Hall. The Department of Anthropology at the University of Oregon houses a comparative collection of over 1,000 vertebrate and invertebrate reference specimens used to analyze faunal remains found in archaeological sites located along the North Pacific coast. Professor Gabe Sanchez, Curator of Zooarchaeology with the Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH), is working to integrate this collection with other biological collections on campus, including the Condon Collection managed by Edward Davis (MNCH-Collections Division) and the UO Comparative Primate Collection managed by Frances White.

For more information, please contact Dr. Gabe Sanchez.