This is the tentative curriculum for Anthropology 290: Field Laboratory in Archaeology  This course is highly recommended for students interested in pursuing archaeology as a career or obtaining a degree in the discipline.
Instructor:  Dr. John P. Staeck, Associate Professor of Anthropology, College of DuPage.
        (630)-942-2022
        staeck@cdnet.cod.edu

ANTHROPOLOGY 290
                  Filed Laboratory Archaeology
                  5 credit hours
                   (2 lecture hours, 6 lab hours)

 Introduces the techniques and theory of archaeological field laboratory processing and related issues through hands-on experience and lecture.  Individual projects may center around particular interests related to the material recovered during the field excavations.  (2 lecture hours, 6 lab hours)

Students will receive both lecture and hands-on training pertaining to the processing, identification, and processing of archaeological material culture.  This will be supported by readings from an internationally recognized text as well as a manual especially prepared for this project.  Additional reinforcement will be provided by Czech specialists and visits to Czech museums and archaeological laboratory facilities.  Additional visits to facilities in neighboring nations may also be arranged, pending availability of personnel from these institutions.  Evaluation of students will be based on (1) participation in course-related activities, (2) completion of a predetermined number of practicum hours in laboratory (minimally 40), (3) maintenance of appropriate journal and record forms to demonstrate student work, and (4) demonstrated competence and safety with fundamental laboratory procedures.

Course Objectives Include:

•       Introduction to the functions and roles of an archaeological laboratory
•           The laboratory as a central place on a project
•           The laboratory as a resource center
•           The laboratory as a compliment to field exploration in addressing research questions
•       Introduction to the realm of archaeometry (an alliance between natural sciences and archaeology),         including its benefits and limitations
•       Analytical techniques and possibilities for specific material remains
•       Procedures for conserving material culture in the field and field laboratory
•       Teach methods of material cultural processing
•           Connection between laboratory techniques and research questions
•           Connection between laboratory procedures and larger issues of data manipulation and             interpretation
•           Artifact cleaning, storage, and cataloging
•           Artifact identification and issues related to the significance of temporally and culturally diagnostic         materials
•       Teach methods of data control and tracking
•           Fundamentals of data recording
•           Fundamentals of database design and operation


Students completing this course should...

    Demonstrate competence in safely handling materials associated with archaeological laboratory work
    Demonstrate competence in the processing and tracking of archaeological material culture
    Demonstrate familiarity with the different roles played by an archaeological laboratory, both to project             members and visitors
    Demonstrate familiarity with the basic categories of material culture recovered from the excavations in the         region
    Be able to use basic database technology to enter, find, and sort appropriate data.
    Have increased personal confidence and self-reliance as a consequence of undertaking hands-on             experiences in archaeology and by experiencing a Non-American culture firsthand

Required Texts:
Sutton and Arkush, 1998, Archaeological Laboratory Methods, 2nd ed. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt.

Optional Texts: (acquire at your discretion, primarily recommended for those pursuing archaeology as a career)
Chamberlain, 1994, Human Remains, Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. (ISBN 0-520-08834-4)
Rackham, 1994, Animal Bones, Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. (ISBN 0-520-08833-6)
Sease, 1994, A Conservation Manual for the Field Archaeologist, 3rd ed. Los Angeles:UCLA. (ISBN 0-        917956-82-6)
Stirland, 1999, Human Bones in Archaeology, 2nd ed., Buckinghamshire:Shire Archaeology (ISBN 0-    7478-0412-5)

Anticipated Hours and Work:
    Participants in this course will spend additional hours in the field laboratory in Premyslovice and, if required, Dr. Smid's laboratory in Prostejov.  Prior to travel to the Czech Republic students will be provided with a reading list and assigned to complete this work before leaving for the field.  Over the period of the field project the students will then work with field personnel in the laboratories for a minimum of 40 hours.  Here they will learn and practice the fundamentals of archaeological laboratory work.  It will be students enrolled in this course that will be assigned the tasks of working with the most delicate and potentially significant material culture we recover and process since it will be these students who have been instructed in the methods of working with such materials.  Extremely sensative material may be processed by Dr. Smid's staff, though we will attempt to arrange for students to be involved in this work at some level.