The Archaeological Chemistry Laboratory, directed by Kelly J. Knudson, operates under the aegis of the Center for Bioarchaeological Research and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University.
Research areas include bone chemistry and analysis of stable isotopes of elements such as strontium, lead, carbon and oxygen. This research helps archaeologists better understand human migration and diet in the past. Current isotopic work focuses on Andean residential mobility. In addition, chemical analysis of archaeological and ethnoarchaeological soils help identify activity areas in the past. In our work in Alaska, we use trace element concentration analysis to examine changing subsistence practices over time.
Current and future students and collaborators can learn more about our laboratory facilities and are encouraged to take ASM 494/591: Human Behavior through Bone Chemistry.
Drs. T. Douglas Price and James H. Burton of the Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison
Dr. Paul D. Fullagar of the Geochronology and Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Elizabeth Aguilera was an ACL laboratory assistant in the summer of 2006 while an art history graduate student in the ASU School of Art. She is currently completing her graduate work at UCSB.
Greg Brennecka, a graduate student in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU, has been working on oxygen isotope analyses in the ACL since the summer of 2008.
Charisse Carver, a SHESC graduate student who specializes in European bioarchaeology, worked in the ACL during the summer of 2009.
Robin Cleland, a SHESC graduate student who specializes in European archaeology and zooarchaeology, worked in the ACL during the summer of 2009.
Catherine Cooper is an undergraduate anthropology and chemistry major at Beloit College. She was trained in isotope analyses in the ACL in the summer of 2009.
Marta Diaz-Zorita Bonilla, a visiting scholar from the Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología at the Universidad de Sevilla, España, was trained in isotope analyses in the ACL in 2007.
Ashley Evans, a SHESC graduate student, was an ACL Research Assistant in 2007, analyzing trace elemental concentrations in ethnoarchaeological soil samples.
Jamie Hodgkins, a SHESC graduate student, has been completing her dissertation research on Middle Paleolithic mobility in the ACL since the summer of 2009.
Martha Palma Málaga was an ACL laboratory assistant in 2007 and 2008 while completing her M.A. in Anthropology at ASU.
Andrew Somerville graduated with a B.A. in anthropology from ASU and is currently a graduate student at UCSD. He specializes in oxygen isotope analysis in Mesoamerica and worked in the ACL from 2005 to 2007.
Hope Williams, a SHESC graduate student who specializes in paleoenvironmental reconstruction in South Africa, has been working as an ACL laboratory assistant since the summer of 2007.
All content © 2005-2009 K. J. Knudson. Photos by J.C. Krantz and K. J. Knudson