Museum offers archeaology experience close to home

On a side street off IU’s campus is the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, home to many different kinds of artifacts that have been unearthed in Indiana. The newly appointed director of the library, April Sievert, has the responsibility of keeping track of what goes on inside.  

Sievert became the director at the beginning of January, succeeding Christopher Peebles, who had worked with the university for 50 years, according to a press release from last week. Sievert’s previous work includes full-time teaching as a professor in the anthropology department.

As the director, Sievert has many different tasks in addition to teaching.  

“In being director, I’m here as a developer and for funding for initiatives to explore research projects and improve the outreach and visibility of the lab,” Sievert said. “I also interact with other colleges and university directors.”

The laboratory, which was officially opened in 1971, is home to much of the archaeological research that takes place in Indiana.  

“The overall mission is the research and present the history of the Midwest, and, to a degree, Indiana,” Sievert said.  “There are exhibits for the public, academic papers and conferences. The feature is the fact that we have large collections, containing artifacts and documents.”

Some of the artifacts included in the collections at the laboratory are those from Angel Mounds, a prehistoric village located in Evansville.  

“Angel Mounds is a Mississippian settlement on the Ohio river, which was active from 1000 to 1400 A.D.,” said William Monaghan, assistant director and senior research scientist.  “We’re studying mound construction there, when they were built, why they
were built and how.”

Monaghan is also currently working on a project called National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates, in which students from all over the country are able to apply to work with researchers at Angel Mounds.  

“The students will spend five weeks in the field, studying the mounds,” Monaghan said. “They will be pulling cores and unearthing profiles, studying how they were built.”

Researchers have unearthed over 300 human remains from the Angel Mounds site, and though they no longer disturb burial sites, they have gathered quite a bit of information about them. Monaghan and the researchers working on the project are trying to discover how the population lived, as well as what wiped it out.

The other project Monaghan is currently working on is research on the Lake Michigan dunes.  

“We’re looking at coastal dunes, in the (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan and on the west and east shores,” Monaghan said. “We want to find when the dunes were formed and how humans articulate themselves into the history.”

Another project currently taking place in the laboratory is the excavation of German Ridge in Hoosier National Forest.  

“There’s a hope for a public excavation starting this fall,” curator of archaeology Timothy Baumann said.  

To check out the research and see the displays, such as mammoth fossils, the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Guided tours are available during regular hours, with prior appointments.