Anthropology Lab Mission

The Luther College Anthropology Laboratory, and by extension the ethnographic and archaeological collections, exist to support the educational mission of the College. The Lab and its collections are used to facilitate learning and provide students, faculty, outside scholars, and the general public with the opportunity for study, research, and individual discovery. The primary mission of the Anthropology Lab is to collect, preserve, and provide access to materials representative of Iowa's cultural history. Central to this mission is an emphasis on student and community education with the goal of fostering a greater appreciation of Iowa's past inhabitants, and the utility of the anthropological perspective.

The Anthropology Department is housed in the Koren Building. Koren, which previously served as the Luther College library, is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Remodeled in 1989, the facility contains faculty offices, a computer lab, and classrooms where most of the anthropology courses are taught.

The Anthropology Laboratory is housed on the third floor of Koren. This modern 800 square foot facility serves as a valuable setting for educational, research, and work-study opportunities. Through this process students are offered valuable experience in the processing, storage, and analysis of archaeological and ethnographic material culture. The lab, which is available for use by all anthropology students, is equipped with two computers containing programs such as ArcView and AutoCAD, with peripherals including printers, scanners, a digital camera, digitizer, and plotter. The lab also houses the program's teaching collections that include a wide range of prehistoric stone tools, ceramics, faunal material, raw stone collections, and an osteology collection.

Central to the resources of the Anthropology Program are the extensive Ethnographic and Archaeological Collections. The materials in these collections are housed in the Anthropology Lab as well as in a 1250 square foot climate-controlled storage facility in the basement of Preus Library. The items in these collections represent invaluable resources for teaching and research. These anthropological materials are one facet of the Luther College Collections that include materials in the Archives, Fine Arts Collection, Geology Collection, and the Hostlett Museum of Natural History.

In 1992-93 the anthropology program initiated a long-term project designed to enhance the educational value of the collections and to increase student involvement with this valuable resource. The goals of the project are to improve storage and management of the collections and to increase their use for teaching, research, and exhibits. Each year students are hired under the college's work-study program to assist with the ongoing tasks of inventory, analysis, data entry, display preparation, and research.

The Anthropology Lab and Collections are managed by Chad Landsman. Colin Betts is the collections supervisor and Anthropology Laboratory Director. Inquiries concerning the lab or the collections can be directed to either Chad or Colin