Category Archives: TARL Students

News & Outreach, TARL Students

Join us for the Texas Archeology Month Fair!

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UPDATE: Thanks to the generous donation from the Gault School of Archaeological Research the Texas Archaeology Month Fair will be held in the Commons Learning Center again this year (the purple building in the map below). Some booths such as atlatl throwing and flintknapping will still take place outside. We look forward to celebrating Texas Archeology Month with you!

October is almost here and  TARL is planning our annual Texas Archeology Month Fair! Please join us to kick off Texas Archeology Month sponsored by the Texas Historical Commision, Council of Texas Archeologists and the Texas Archeological Society. This year’s Fair will take place on October 5, 2019. Join us on the soccer field at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus in north Austin from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for free, hands-on fun for all! Thanks to the collaboration of professional and avocational archeologists, this free event provides an interactive education experience on the history of Texas through archaeological displays, hands-on activities, and artifact identification. Along with artifact identification, kids and adults have the opportunity to test their skills in pottery-making, atlatl throwing, artifact reconstruction, excavation, and more! Other highlights of the fair will include flintknapping demonstrations and face-painting. In addition the fair offers information on innovating techniques in the field such as 3-D modeling and how scientific methods are utilized to preserve the rich history of Texas at nearby sites. Please come out to join us for this free event open to the public!

The event is open to all visitors and there’s something fun for everyone!

 

The Pickle Research Campus is located in north Austin near the Domain shopping center, just west of MoPac at the corner of Burnet Road and Braker Lane.

 

This year’s activities and demonstrations will include:

  • Pottery-making
  • Flintknapping
  • Atlatl and rabbit sticks (prehistoric hunting techniques)
  • Painted pebbles
  • Rock art
  • Artifact Show and Tell
  • Dance Demonstration by Great Promise for American Indians
  • Artifact Reconstruction
  • Face painting
  • Leather-Painting
  • And many more!

This year’s donors include:

 

TARL’s event partners include:

  • UT’s Anthropological Society
  • UT’s Anthropology department
  • UT’s Classics department
  • UT’s Mesoamerica Center
  • The Texas Archeological Society
  • The Texas Memorial Museum
  • Great Promise for American Indians
  • TxDOT
  • The Travis County Archeological Society
  • Texas State University’s Forensic Anthropology program
  • Texas State University’s Anthropology department
  • The Gault School of Archaeological Research
  • The Council of Texas Archeologists
  • The Texas Historical Commission
  • Texas Parks and Wildlife
  • Many individual volunteers

TARL is looking for general volunteers to assist presenters and help with set-up and clean-up. To volunteer, please email the curatorial associate, Annie Riegert at dariegert@utexas.edu

Thank you so much to our partners and sponsors, who are helping to make this event possible!

We are delighted to kick off the 2019 Texas Archeology Month. For more TAM events going on throughout October please visit:

https://www.thc.texas.gov/preserve/projects-and-programs/texas-archeology-month.

 

 

 

 

Education, TARL Students

TARL Student Updates: Information School Highlight!

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Erin Shook

Erin is a Master of Science in Information Studies student working on a data management project in the human osteology collection. Erin’s undergraduate degree in anthropology sparked an interest in forensic science and she was eager to engage with a physical collection that touched on her information studies coursework, specifically records management and conservation. In an effort to help fulfill the federal law NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act), she is assisting in processing
the original records from the burial excavations as well as subsequent skeletal analyses to promote research access and to facilitate the repatriation of the human remains to extant Native tribes. A portion of the paper records will be digitized and linked so that original data can be accessed and viewed by researchers through a searchable database interface. We congratulate Erin on her pending graduation at the end of the summer!

Megan Steele and Sam Lowrance

Congratulations to our two recent Masters graduates from the Master of Science in Information Studies program! TARL has had the pleasure of working with Megan Steele and Sam Lowrance as they both complete their Capstone professional experience and project focused on the digitization of records and photographs from the 1930’s excavations and surveys conducted under the Works Program Administration. We are further pleased to announce that Megan Steele will continue to work with us here at TARL as our new archival Curatorial Assistant! We are excited to see what wonderful work both Sam and Megan go on to do!

 

Education, News & Outreach, TARL Staff, TARL Students

TARL Symposium at TAS and Other Upcoming Conferences

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A number of TARL staff members, former student interns, and researchers will be presenting their research at the Texas Archeological Society’s Annual Meeting in San Antonio October 26 – 27, 2018. We will have approximately 12 presentations on a variety of topics: painted pebbles, experimental flintknapping, public outreach, collections rehabilitation, independent student research, and more. We are excited to present this research, and to hear feedback on our work from the community!

Beyond the upcoming symposium, we are busy keeping abreast of all things curatorial going on around the nation. In addition to attending local society meetings like those of the Travis County Archeological Society (TCAS) and TAS, TARL staff members will be attending several conferences in spring 2019. In January 2019, TARL Head of Collections Marybeth Tomka will be part of a round table discussion on standards of cataloguing for repositories at the Society for Historical Archaeology’s Annual Meeting in Saint Charles, Missouri. Marybeth serves as a member of the Curation and Collections Committee.

Marybeth and TARL Curatorial Associate Lauren Bussiere also plan to present a poster at the Society for American Archaeology meetings in Albuquerque, New Mexico in April 2019. The committee on Collections, Museums and Curation is sponsoring the poster session, the goal of which is to encourage and facilitate collections-based research by building relationships and sharing knowledge. Marybeth is a former member of this committee and still keeps up with their activities and sits in on their meetings when possible. An offshoot of the committee is the formation of the Curation Interest Group that Marybeth co-chairs.

Additional papers will be presented at the 2019 SAA meeting by Lauren (on the topic of pseudoarchaeology), TARL Curatorial Technician Annie Riegert (bioarchaeology in Belize), and TARL Affiliated Researcher Nadya Prociuk (shell ornaments and tools from south Texas). We welcome all colleagues and interested parties to check out our presentations, give us feedback, and share their research with us!

Education, News & Outreach, TARL Students

TARL Visits ORPL

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At the end of the summer, TARL brought students and volunteers on a field trip to visit the Osteological Research and Processing Laboratory (ORPL) at Texas State University’s Forensic Anthropology Research Facility. ORPL is the main laboratory where students and staff process human remains from both their regular donation program and their Operation ID program. Operation ID (also known as OpID) is a collaborative effort between the forensic anthropologists at Texas State, the Border Patrol and other law enforcement, landowners in south Texas, various NGOs, and other state, federal, and international agencies who work together to find, identify, and repatriate the remains of individuals who have died attempting to cross the border from Mexico into the United States. ORPL also processes the remains of people who have chosen to donate their bodies after death, which are used for many purposes from longitudinal studies of decomposition to law enforcement training.

By visiting ORPL, TARL’s students and volunteers were able to learn about these amazing projects and gain some first-hand insights into the work and training of forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeologists. While this work is often difficult both physically and emotionally, it is also extremely meaningful and important. Through the work of the ORPL team, many families have been able to learn the fates of their missing loved ones–although these stories are tragic, families can finally lay their loved ones to rest. The OpID project also demonstrates the capacity for meaningful and productive collaboration between these various agencies, and what they can accomplish working together toward a shared goal.

Thank you very much to the Texas State Forensic Anthropology team and especially to Courtney Siegert and Chloe McDaneld for hosting us and sharing their extensive knowledge.

TARL Staff, students, and volunteers in front of the ORPL Facility at Texas State’s Freeman Ranch.
Education, News & Outreach, TARL Students

Lithics & Flintknapping Workshop

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This weekend, TARL welcomed instructors Dr. Robert Lassen and Sergio Ayala, both from the Gault School of Archaeological Research, who led an excellent workshop in lithic analysis and flintknapping.

Dr. Lassen presented on lithic technology, typology, and analysis, along with a show-and-tell presentation of artifacts from the Gault site and from the TARL collections. The workshop focused on artifact types commonly found in Texas, but we also got to look at some artifacts from Mesoamerica, elsewhere in North America, and even a few Lower Paleolithic artifacts from Africa.

Dr. Robert Lassen explained principles of stone tool artifact analysis to workshop participants.
A sample of lithic artifacts from TARL and the Gault site.

After a morning of classroom work, participants got to check out a flintknapping demo from Sergio, who makes excellent stone tool reproductions by hand. Afterward, all the workshop attendees got to try their hand at making their own stone tools using the same techniques and materials used by prehistoric people.

Sergio Ayala explains some finer points of his flintknapping techniques.
Sergio Ayala demonstrates flintknapping techniques to workshop participants.
Workshop participants practice hard-hammer percussion to create stone tools.
Dr. Lassen helps students plan their flake removal strategy.

Thank you so much to our wonderful instructors for volunteering their time and expertise to make this a great workshop! And thanks to all the students, volunteers, and participants who attended–we hope you had a great time.

If you have suggestions for future workshop topics, or would like to volunteer to lead a TARL workshop, please comment below or email our staff.

News & Outreach, TARL Staff, TARL Students

Explore UT 2018

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This past weekend, TARL staff and students got to join in one of our favorite events of the year: Explore UT! Each year, the University of Texas opens its campus to thousands of K-12 visitors to give them a look at college life. Each department and research unit is invited to participate by sharing activities that can help students learn about the many majors and career paths open to them as a future UT student.

We had an amazing turnout this year–thousands of students from across the state came out to visit the UT campus. With the help of several amazing student volunteers and friends, we shared a hands-on activity, flintknapping demonstration, and artifact show and tell with a huge number of kids, educators, and parents.

We want to say a huge thank you to our volunteers! This day would not have been possible without your help. Thank you for helping us share our love of archeology with the next generation of UT students!

TxDOT archeologist Chris Ringstaff demonstrates flintknapping (stone tool making) to a group of students.
TARL Intern Mallory shares info with visitors.
UT grad students brought manos and metates to demonstrate prehistoric food preparation techniques.
TARL Intern Ann Marie discusses artifacts with students and parents.
Education, News & Outreach, TARL Students

TARL Visits the Gault Site

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As part of our efforts to engage students and community members in Texas archeology, TARL tries to offer learning opportunities for our interns and volunteers outside of the lab. This week, we brought a great group of students and volunteers to the Gault site in southern Bell County.

The Gault site (41BL323) first caught the attention of archeologists over 100 years ago. Although some parts of the site were damaged by looting and pay-to-dig operations throughout the 20th century, more recent scientific excavations have uncovered massive, intact Clovis deposits dating as far back as 13,500 BCE and even evidence for older-than-Clovis habitation at the site. No new excavations are going on at Gault right now–the project staff have lots of data to write up and publish before opening up new excavations–but our excellent tour guide, Dr. Tom Williams, was able to show us previous excavation areas and teach us a ton about the site.

Dr. Williams explains how the limestone outcrop functioned as a lithic raw material procurement zone, and points out some petroglyphs that likely date to the historic period.

As much as we love looking at artifacts in the lab, it’s important to get out and see the sites themselves, so that we can gain a deeper understanding of the role of the landscape in prehistoric lifeways. At the Gault site, our group was able to see how a location like this one is an ideal spot for habitation: it’s close to water and on the border of different ecological zones, meaning that many different types of resources are available nearby. We also got to try our hand at throwing darts using an atlatl, just as Paleoindian hunters may have done!

Rachel makes her dart fly!
Jeff and Sheldon are ready to go mammoth-hunting.

Another fascinating part of our visit was learning about the various hypotheses for the early peopling of the Americas, and how research at Gault is contributing to our understanding of the earliest inhabitants of our continent. Increasingly, evidence is suggesting that the people all over North America and beyond who used Clovis tool technology were not the first immigrants to these areas. We look forward to seeing all the exciting research coming out of the Gault site!

Thank you to Dr. Tom Williams of the Gault School of Archeological Research for sharing all your time, effort, and expertise–you made this a trip to remember!

Read more about Gault on Texas Beyond History.

Visit the Gault School’s website to learn more and schedule your own visit!

Education, TARL Students

Congratulations, Graduates! TARL Student News

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Every school year, TARL is fortunate to have the help of many undergraduate and graduate students from UT and other colleges. TARL’s internship, work-study, and volunteer programs help students get hands-on experience in a laboratory setting as they explore their interests in archeology, bioarcheology, forensics, museum studies, and information science. This spring, we had quite a few of our great students graduate. We will miss having them around, but we are excited to see what they do next!

Elizabeth Coggeshall, University of Texas class of 2017.

TARL Human Osteology Laboratory intern Elizabeth Coggeshall graduated from UT this spring with an honors degree in Anthropology. Elizabeth completed numerous skeletal inventories and analyses as an intern and volunteer at TARL while completing her degree. Her immediate plans include going to South Africa to do fieldwork on forest baboons for the Goudeveld Baboon Project hosted by Duke University. Afterward, she plans to complete a research project with Dr. Rebecca Lewis of UT, apply for graduate school for fall 2018, and spend lots of time with her tripod kitty, Hammy.

Jessie LeViseur, Texas State University class of 2017.

TARL Human Osteology Laboratory intern and volunteer Jessie LeViseur graduated from Texas State with a B.S. in Anthropology, focusing on forensics. She started volunteering at TARL in May 2015. She has had the task of checking the integrity of preservation of human remains in the TARL HO lab, as well as representing TARL at the 2015 TAS meeting, where she discussed her work on the WPA-era Harrell site rehab project. She has also completed a TARL internship, and now works part-time in our HO lab. Her goal is to work in a hospital or police lab doing forensic work full time.

Kimberly Noone, University of Texas class of 2017.

TARL Collections & Osteology intern Kimberly Noone graduated from UT with a degree in Anthropology. As an anthropology student she focused on biological anthropology and archaeology. During her time in the TARL Osteology Lab she worked to catalog and re-analyze the collection of human remains, and in our Collections department she completed an updated inventory of the faunal remains collection from the Bonfire Shelter site in southwestern Texas.

Kim initially had a hard time choosing a major at UT, not declaring until the beginning of her junior year, but she discovered an interest in archaeology after taking the human osteology course offered by Dr. John Kappelman. She found the study of burial practices and human remains intriguing and that helped her plan for her future. Kim plans on returning to school to eventually pursue a Ph.D. in Archaeology. Her experiences working at TARL have solidified her interest in lab work and working with remains. She hopes to be able to study human burial practices, using her knowledge of osteology to further research paleopathologies.

Christina Uribe, University of Texas class of 2017.

TARL work-study student Christina Uribe just graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology. She is also double majoring in Chemistry at in the College of Natural Sciences. Tina originally came to UT as a natural sciences major, but during her first year she took the anthropology introduction course and has been hooked ever since. After that, Tina continued taking various anthropology courses that included topics such as primate anatomy, Maya civilization, and digital data systems in archaeology. She eventually added anthropology as a second major and studied abroad last summer at the field school in Belize as part of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project. This past year, Tina was a work-study intern at TARL. She primarily handled data entry, transferring site records and their respective inventory to an online database. Through this work she was able to gain a greater understanding of Texas archaeology. In the future Tina would like to study biological anthropology further and find a way to combine her studies in chemistry and anthropology, possibly in forensics. After finishing up her Chemistry degree at UT this year, Tina plans to get some additional experience to help her narrow down her career options. Once she has a clear idea of what she’d like to focus on, she will attend graduate school to further her education.

Morgan Lubenow, University of Texas class of 2017.

TARL volunteer Morgan Lubenow recently graduated from UT with a B.A. in Anthropology. Morgan’s last year was a whirlwind, as she completed a study abroad course at the Turkana Basin Institute (Turkana, Kenya, Africa) in the fall semester and a full work and internship schedule in the Spring Semester. Currently Morgan is working for the Girl Scouts of Central Texas as a Program Manager for an overnight camp called Camp Kachina. This position is a longtime goal for Morgan, so she is very excited. After her summer camp position ends she’ll be starting up a road trip to see as many of the US’s National Parks and Historic sites as possible. She’ll be traveling August through May with a few stops home. After her epic road trip, Morgan hopes to attend graduate school beginning in the fall of 2018. She is currently looking at Duke as well as Stony Brook University.

Not all of TARL’s students have graduated and left us! Former intern Sheldon Smith and volunteer Meaghan O’Brien are currently building up their field experience and archeological skills at the UT Programme for Belize Archeological Project. TARL volunteer and part-time collections staff Katie Kitch is volunteering with the Texas Historical Commission. And, several of our wonderful volunteers are still coming out to TARL regularly to help us out with important lab work and collections tasks. Thanks to all our volunteers!

TARL Students

UT Research Week 2017

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Each year, UT hosts a week of events showcasing independent research done by undergraduate and graduate students across departments. This year, TARL was proud to support several of our student interns and volunteers as they presented their research projects.

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TARL students Elizabeth Coggeshall, Jenny Levin, and Sheldon Smith presented their independent research at UT Research Week.

Former TARL collections intern Sheldon Smith presented his archeological work on ceramic raw material sourcing at the Maya site of Colha, which he hopes to complete this summer during the Programme for Belize field season. Current TARL Human Osteology Lab intern Elizabeth Coggeshall presented on her primate gut microbe research, which she has conducted in collaboration with various other labs. And, TARL volunteer and anthropology/ history double major Jenny Levin demonstrated the power of technology to enhance our understanding of the past as she explained her work creating a website that compiles the layers of UT’s history into an interactive experience. We are extremely proud of these great students and we know they’ll go on to great things in the future!

TARL also hosted a table at the Longhorn Research Bazaar, where we gave out information on research opportunities we offer for students. TARL is always looking for students who are interested in conducting independent research at the graduate or undergraduate level–our collections and library are available to you! TARL collections can be used for senior theses, master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, independent studies, and much more. Contact us to begin exploring opportunities.

Projects & Research, TARL Students

Student Project Update: Truc Nguyen

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by Truc Nguyen

The past two weeks involved hands on work that I was able to do on the rehousing project of our naturally preserved mummy. Working with cardboard boxes, duct tape, and other tools, I was able to come up with my first rough idea for both the outer box and inner sled. Upon further work, both Kerri and I decided that an additional inner sled would be needed.  Hope to keep you all updated as we make more progress!

 

Truc has been busy constructing models of the long-term mummy housing. She is experimenting with different types of boards, tapes and designs to better understand how viable her design will be. The materials that she will be using in the design of her final project will be archival, chemically inert and offer the rigid support needed to protect such a delicately preserved individual.
Truc has been busy constructing models of the long-term mummy housing. She is experimenting with different types of boards, tapes and designs to better understand how viable her design will be. The materials that she will be using in the design of her final project will be archival, chemically inert and offer the rigid support needed to protect such a delicately preserved individual.

 

Once she decided on a drop-front outer box that will provide the rigid protection necessary for moving the mummy she focused on a desgning an interior sled with handles. This will allow researchers to access the remains by untying the stays and dropping the front of the box and then sliding forward the interior sled.
Once she decided on a drop-front outer box that will provide the rigid protection necessary for moving the mummy she focused on a designing an interior sled with handles. This will allow researchers to access the remains by untying the stays and dropping the front of the box and then sliding forward the interior sled.

 

Truc's project is intended to improve the stability, protection and access of one of our most sensitive sets of remains. Designed much like a set of Russian nesting dolls, the various envelopes will provide 1. the rigidity necessary to move the box when necessary, 2. the ability to access approximately 160 degrees of the remains, and ultimately 3. 180 degrees with the insertion of a flat, reinforced platform with custom-contoured ethafoam supports that will prevent the mummy from turning or leaning.
Truc’s project is intended to improve the stability, protection and access of one of our most sensitive sets of remains. Designed much like a set of Russian nesting dolls, the various envelopes will provide 1. the rigidity necessary to move the box when necessary, 2. the ability to access approximately 160 degrees of the remains, and ultimately 3. 180 degrees with the insertion of a flat, reinforced platform with custom-contoured ethafoam supports that will prevent the mummy from turning or leaning.

 

For information on Truc’s project:  RehousingTARLMummies

Check back later in the week as Truc continues to design and engineer protective long-term housing for this delicate set of remains as she continues her research into best practice for creating stable, preservation micro-environments for organic objects.