Research Facilities:
Field Research

IDPAS faculty conduct field research throughout the world.

All the archaeology faculty are actively engaged in field research. David Bernstein conducts research and contract excavations on Long Island. John Shea has conducted field work in Jordan and at the important site of Ubeidiya, Israel. His more recent work has focused on survey and excavations in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Katheryn Twiss is a member of the faunal team at the extraordinary early Neolithic site of Catalhuyuk, Turkey. Elizabeth Stone and Paul Zimansky have excavated in both Syria and Iraq and are now directing excavations in Turkey at the site of Ayanis, a major city of the Uratian empire.

Paleontological research is being conducted in Ethiopia in the Kibish Formation (John Fleagle), Madagascar (David Krause and William Jungers), Mali (Maureen O'Leary), Egypt (Erik Seiffert), Kenya and Uganda (James Rossie) and southern Africa (Frederick Grine).

Ethnographic work is ongoing in China (Gregory Ruf), East Timor and Indonesia (David Hicks), Spain (David Gilmore), and Tanzania (William Arens).

IDPAS faculty maintain three primate research stations. The International Research Station at Ranomafana National Park in Madagascar was established by Patricia Wright. The 41,500 ha. protected by the park is nearly completely forested. This vast park ranges from 600-1,500 m elevation and contains lowland rain forests, cloud forests, and high plateau chaparral. Ranomafana National Park is located in the southeastern part of Madagascar. The region lies approximately 90 kilometers west of the Indian Ocean on the east-facing escarpment of Madagascar's central high plateau. The park is 400 km southeast of the national capital of Antananarivo, and 60 km northeast of the provincial capital of Fianarantsoa. The research station consists of two permanent buildings and tent sites. Satellite camps at high (Vohiparara) and moderate (Vatoharanana, Valohoaka) elevation pristine forest sites are a several hours walk from the main field station and have no permanent structures.

The Mondika Research Center in Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic, was established by Diane Doran as a long-term field site with a primary aim of studying the relationship of foraging strategy and social organization of western lowland gorillas and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). The study site is approximately 60 km² in area and consists of a mixed-species tropical lowland forest. The entire site has been free of human disturbance in recent years, has never been logged, and is a 20-km hike followed by a four-hour motorized dugout ride from the nearest village. The area is rich in primate fauna and includes five genera and ten species of sympatric anthropoids (P. troglodytes, G. gorilla, Cercocebus galeritus, C. albigena, Cercopithecus cephus, C. nictitans, C. pogonias, C. neglectus, Piliocolobus badius, and Colobus guereza).

Andreas Koenig and Carola Borries are studying leaf monkeys at Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, northeastern Thailand. The sanctuary is located 90 km northwest of the provincial capital Chaiyaphum and comprises an area of 156,000 ha at an elevation of 300-1,300 m. The vegetation consists primarily of hill evergreen, dry evergreen, dry dipterocarp and mixed pine-dipterocarp, and bamboo forest. The area harbors two leaf monkey (Trachypithecus cristatus, T. phayrei) and four macaque species (Macaca arctoides, M. assamensis, M. mulatta, M. leonina) as well as white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) and slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis). The long-term aims of the study are investigations of the socio-ecology of leaf monkeys particularly with regard to feeding ecology, costs and benefits of group life, social relationships, and reproductive strategies.