Archeology Conference opens this weekend for local professionals, students

Mastodon skeletons, the Great Depression era Works Progress Administration and the ice age are all a part of Indiana’s archeological history and took center stage on the first day of the 2010 Midwest Archeology Conference.

The conference, which is back at IU for the first time since 1978, will run through Sunday in the Indiana Memorial Union. The 56th annual conference is hosted by the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archeology and sponsored by various organizations.

“It’s a great place to make connections and to talk to people about the future,” Erica Ausel, a third year graduate student said. “It’s a positive thing for the entire department.”

The conference will feature a wide range of talks that cover Midwest archeology, as well as a symposium dedicated solely to Indiana archeology.

“What we can learn here in Indiana might be applicable to other regions,” Edward Herrmann, a third year graduate student and presenter said. “We know by stone tools found that people in Indiana were some of the first people in the Americas.”

All research presentations during the conference last 15 minutes and cover varying topics from different areas in anthropology and archeology. For the first time this year’s conference will have a lithics, or stone tools, exchange Friday.

The conference is geared toward both professionals and students interested in the field.

“It helps provide general information for archeology,” senior anthropology major Keri Helmer said. “You don’t have to have a strong archeology background. It’s accessible to everyone.”

The Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archeology was established in 1965 as a research center by Eli Lilly. The center was named in honor of Glenn Black, the first professional archeologist in Indiana. The center currently curates nearly 12,000 archeological collections.

“Eli Lilly provided us a great resource which allows us to bring people together to discuss and further our knowledge,” said associate professor of anthropology Timothy Baumann, who also serves as the center’s curator of collections.