Archaeological Training & Research Laboratory
Department of Sociology and AnthropologyKnapp Hall, Downtown CampusWest Virginia University
History
The West Virginia University Archaeological Training and Research Laboratory (Arch Lab) was established in Autumn 2020 and began operations in February 2021 with the first loan and transfer of archaeological material from the West Virginia Archaeological Research and Collections Management Facility housed at the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex in Moundsville, WV to the Arch Lab housed in Knapp Hall on the Downtown Campus in Morgantown. What started out with two students has grown since then into a cohort of student staff members and trained student technicians.
Mission
The primary aim of the Arch Lab is to provide students with practical archaeological experience while also promoting West Virginia archaeology and the research potential of legacy collections.
A secondary goal of the lab is to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for students to share their passion for and experiences in the field of archaeology.
Student Training
The laboratory is a training space for students to learn procedures for processing archaeological materials and best practices for archaeological research in general. The immediate goal for the Arch Lab is to give WVU students hands-on experience with artifact handling and processing. As students become proficient with initial processing of material, students may progress to specialized analysis and conducting research projects under the supervision of a director pertaining to focused archaeological questions or centered around specific collections, sites, or materials.
Benefits of Laboratory Training
Working in the Arch Lab provides students with an opportunity to learn general laboratory skills such as following standard operating procedures (SOPs), maintaining a clean and organized workspace, and operating within a laboratory research group. Generally, the Arch lab is a space where students interested in archaeology can share academic or field/work experiences, chat about their interests, and be part of a student cohort.
More specifically, after students complete the minimum 20 hours/semester of lab work, students will be able to:
safely and thoroughly wash all types of artifacts including fragile organic remains (e.g., small animal bone), as well as sturdier materials (e.g., lithics).
identify artifact material type (e.g., ceramic, lithic, animal bone, shell, charcoal, etc.).
rehouse charcoal samples for safe long-term storage.
Student Funding & Academic Research Credits
The Arch Lab supports experiential learning and faculty-guided research in multiple ways. If eligible, students who have completed the required training sessions may be employed as laboratory assistants through the university's Federal Work-Study program.
After completing a semester of lab work (20 hours minimum), interested students may contact the lab director about conducting a research project through the WVU Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) or the WVU Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE).
The WVU Archaeology Lab is located in Knapp Hall and is open by appointment only.
WVU Land Acknowledgement
WVU, with its statewide institutional presence, resides on land that includes ancestral territories of the Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Haudenosaunee (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, Tuscarora), Cherokee, and many other Indigenous peoples.
In acknowledging this, we recognize and appreciate those Indigenous nations whose territories we are living on and working in. Indigenous peoples have been in the land currently known as West Virginia since time immemorial.
(adapted from the WVU Program for Native American Studies [NAS]; developed in Fall 2019 with input from NAS Committee members, after consultation with Tribal Nations)