Facilities & Labs
Lab work and access to cutting-edge equipment are an integral part of anthropological and sociological research conducted at the university. These facilities house state-of-the-art equipment available for research and teaching. The availability of such equipment makes the UTulsa anthropology and sociology department unique among other departments in the region.
Human Ecology Lab
The Laboratory of Human Ecology is focused on research about human-environmental interactions over long time periods. We work primarily with pottery, skeletal, and environmental data from Native American sites, European trade items, and historic documents.
Lithic Microwear and Technology Lab
The Lithic Microwear and Technology Lab conducts research on understanding human behavior through the application of microwear analysis to archaeological assemblages.
Paleoanthropology and Human Osteology Lab
The Paleoanthropology and Human Osteology Lab hosts a large collection of museum-quality casts of fossilized hominins and primates spanning the Cenozoic period.
Paleoecology and Zooarchaeology Lab
The Paleoecology and Zooarchaeology Lab hosts a zooarchaeological comparative collection. Research conducted in the lab includes paleoecological and zooarchaeological analyses on faunal assemblages from Israel, Jordan, the Republic of Georgia, Kazakhstan, and China dating from 2.0 million years ago to the Historic periods.
Don R. Dickson Lithic Comparative Collection
The Don R. Dickson Lithic Comparative Collection is a large reference collection of lithic raw materials, assembled by Don Dickson over the course of his career. Dickson, an archeologist and flint-knapper, has particular expertise in lithics, lithic sources and Ozark prehistoric peoples. He excavated Calf Creek Cave and named the Calf Creek and Searcy points.
Donald O. Henry Near Eastern Lithic Artifacts Collection
The laboratory is a repository for one of the largest collections (more than 500,000 specimens) housed in North America of chipped stone artifacts recovered from prehistoric sites in the Near East.
Surface Metrology and Tribology Facility
The focus of research in the laboratory of surface metrology and tribology is the analysis of use-wear patterns on a wide range of archaeological materials, including but not limited to materials as dental enamel, bone, lithics, and ceramics.
Helmerich Center for American Research
Students are encouraged to study in the archives, which houses more than 100,000 rare books, documents, maps and unpublished works. The collection at Helmerich Center for American Research includes a vast archive of printed documents, dating back to the time of Columbus, that detail Spanish arrival in the New World, as well as documents that tell the stories of the New England colonies, Westward expansion, and the experiences of America’s native peoples.
Other Campus Facilities
The University of Tulsa has several facilities across campus that aid anthropology students in their studies.
- Biological science department
- Chemistry and biochemistry department
- Geosciences department
- Tallgrass Prairie Ecological Research Station
More information
For more information about any of these labs or facilities, please contact Department Chair Peter Stromberg.