Research Facilities: Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology has a variety of research facilities based within faculty laboratories and in special laboratories. The facilities cover the analysis of lithic technology, zooarchaeology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and dental structure and microwear.

The laboratory for dental structure and microwear contains a scanning electron microscope, a confocal microscope, one optical scope equipped with video output and image analysis software, slide preparation equipment, computers, table space, and a large collection of fossil and modern human dental material. The physical anthropology laboratories house an extensive primate and hominid fossil cast collection, as well as a collection of modern human skeletal material.

The archaeology laboratories contain high-resolution slide scanners, flatbed scanners, digitizers, printers, numerous binocular microscopes (with several equipped for photography and video output), electronic total stations, and a meat freezer. Several computers are equipped with customized software for analysis of zooarchaeological data. A state-of-the-art GIS laboratory contains twelve networked Pentium computers, printers, and both flatbed and film scanners. The hardware is configured to run ARC-GIS and ERDAS Imagine software. Significant table space for research is available in several laboratories. The archaeology laboratories also contain artifactual and zooarchaeological collections. These include the following: (1) Near Eastern ceramic collections, (2) lithic collections from North America, Europe, and the Middle East, (3) skeletal collections from North America and Africa, (4) experimental taphonomic bone collections, and (5) zooarchaeological collections from the Middle East. An archaeobotanical laboratory will be established in the near future.

The department also houses three institutes: the Institute for Long Island Archaeology (ILIA), The Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments (ICTE) and the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI).

ILIA is a research, educational, and applied organization. Its mission integrates research in the fields of archaeology and local history with a variety of applied activities, especially cultural resource management. The Institute was formally established in 1987, and David J. Bernstein was hired as its first permanent director in the fall of 1989. In addition to an active program of cultural resource management, ILIA offers diverse educational and research opportunities. ILIA maintains a large collection of library and archival materials relating to the history and archaeology of coastal New York. This collection, comprising more than 500 bound volumes and tens of thousands of pages of research records, articles, and other documents, was donated to the Institute in 1989 by the family of the late Dr. Lynn Ceci. Since that time, the Institute has added to its archival holdings, and the collection is considered to be the finest and most complete collection of library and archival materials pertaining to the archaeology of coastal New York.

ICTE is dedicated to research, conservation, and training in tropical regions, but its main focus has been on Madagascar. ICTE has administered two major USAID grants: an Integrated Conservation and Development Project for Ranomafana National Park (RNP) in Madagascar, and a University Development Linkage Program (UDLP) linking three U.S. and two Malagasy universities. The ICTE has also received support from the National Science Foundation, the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Douroucouli Foundation, Primate Conservation International, and others. ICTE was recently invited to develop and implement management plans for two additional protected areas in Madagascar.

The Turkana Basin Institute, based at Stony Brook, provides educational programs and opportunities for paleontological, archeological and geological research in the Turkana Basin of Northern Kenya. The institute also offers graduate fellowships and summer research fellowships on a competitive basis to Stony Brook graduate students.