Dixon Archaeology Laboratory
The archaeological laboratory located in the Social Sciences building (room 244) serves as a working classroom and hands-on workspace where students clean, process, and analyze archaeological collections. Many graduate students working with Dr. Kelly J. Dixon have workstations in SS 244, which retains much of the historical character of the historic Social Science Building which served as UM's library during the early-mid-20th century. Students who use in this lab represent a community of researchers, intersecting graduate student investigations with undergraduate student experiences.
Graduate and undergraduate students work collaboratively in the SS 244 lab and working classroom. Here they are learning fundamentals of faunal analysis, using animal bones recovered from a field school at Historic Fort Missoula in ANTY 455, Artifact Analysis.
Graduate and undergraduate students associated with the SS 244 lab learn to conduct non-invasive surface survey during a hands-on, field survey course with Professor Kelly Dixon (Photo by Kelli Casias).
UM archaeology students document one of western Montana’s numerous mining “ghost towns.”
UM graduate students, working in partnership with the Glacier National Park cultural heritage team, conduct a non-invasive surface survey of a historic railroad grade in Glacier National Park.
Past Graduate Student Theses/Dissertations
- Schroeder, William D. (2018) Of Ruptures and Raptures: Locating Ideology with LiDAR Imagery
- Harris, John S. (2018) The Sylvan Blindspot: The Archaeological Value of Surface Vegetation and a Critique of its Documentation.
- Swartz, Ayme (2018) MA Portfolio on file, University of Montana, Department of Anthropology.
- Lopez, Marty I. (2017) Visions of Sovereignty: Tribal Sovereignty Through the Lenses of Postcolonialism, Indigenous Film, and Visual Anthropology.
- Schlosshardt, Britt (2017) An Exploratory Study of Burial Identification Using Historic Human Remains Detection Dog Alerts and Inorganic Soil Analyses. (Co-Chaired with Dr. John Douglas)
- Blecha, Erika S. (2015) Into the Wild: A Case Study of the Intersection of Archaeology and Federal Wilderness Policy.
- Bobbitt, Mary (2015) The Historical and Cultural Landscape of the Missoula Valley During the 19th and 20th Centuries.
- Lane, Nicole (2015) Discovering the Chinese Mining Child: the Archaeology of Children and Childhood in Multicultural American Mining Communities.
- Manning, Nikki (2014) Missoula Historic Underground Project: Urban Archaeology, Landscape, and Identity. (Dr. Gregory Campbell served as Chair) See also Historic Underground Missoula (Manning, 2015, Arcadia Publishing and The History Press).
- Scott, Sara A. (2014) Ties that Bind on the Northwestern Plains: Contexts for Prehistoric Trade and Travel.
- Urbaniak, Timothy Rostov (2014) Historic Inscriptions of the Northern Plains: Identity and Influence in the Residual Communication Record.
- Wendell, Ryan (2014) The Comet Mine: An Engendered Study of Victorian Consumption Practices and Material Culture on a Small Mining Landscape.
- Campbell, Roselyn (2012) Forgotten Sepulchers: The Uninscribed Tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt.(Co-Chaired with Dr. Donald P. Ryan, Pacific Lutheran University’s Valley of the Kings Project)
- Norman, William Travis (2012) Tradewinds and Traditions: Exploring the Archaeology of German Gulch.
- Campbell, Bethany Hauer (2011) Our Collective History: The Curation Crisis and the Excavation of an Archaeological Repository.
- Luksha, Victoria E. (2011) Paraffin: An Economic and Ecological Alternative for Bone Conservation.
- Mueller, Jackson Cossitt (2011) Individual Agency and Military Structure: Personal Artifacts From 1890s Fort Missoula.
- Merritt, Donald (2010) Fort Owen: The History and Archaeology of a Contact Period Site in Western Montana.
- Merritt, Christopher W. (2010) “The Coming Man from Canton”: Chinese Experience in Montana (1862-1943). See also The Coming Man from Canton: Chinese Experience in Montana, 1862-1943 (Merritt 2017, University of Nebraska Press and Society for Historical Archaeology).
- Thurlo, Margaret A. (2010) Masculine Domesticity in the Mining West: An Archaeological Investigation at Coloma Ghost Town.
- Haught, Amanda C. (2009) Home Swede Home: The Archaeology of Swedish Cultural Identity at a Western Homestead.
- Moschelle, Justin (2009) MA Portfolio on file, University of Montana, Department of Anthropology.
- Woody, Benjamin (2009) Depression-Era Coloma: A World Systems Study of Mining and Daily Life in a Reoccupied Montana Ghost Town.
- Swords, Molly E. (2008) A Clean Slate: The Archaeology of the Donner Party’s Writing Slate Fragments.
- Vihlene, Shannon M. (2008) Custer’s Last Drag: An Examination of Tobacco Use Among the Seventh Cavalry During the Nineteenth Century.
- Childress, Jennifer (2007) Initial Investigations of Possible Historic Chinese Habitation of Site 24SA0122 (Poacher Gulch).
- Hemry, Lucinda (2007) Historic Archaeological Context and Research Investigations Leading Toward a Protection Plan for the Jennings Town Site, Lincoln County, Montana.
- Karuzas, Erika (2007) MA Project focusing on trails as archaeological features with an emphasis on a section of the Lewis and Clark Trail in Montana. Related publication entitled, Retracing Lolo Trail: Identifying Lewis and Clark's exact trail in the Lolo Trail National Historic Landmark is next to impossible, Karuzas 2008, published in We Proceeded On [the quarterly journal of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation], February 2008, Vol. 34 No. 1, Page 21.
- Wisehart, Ashley (2006) Bad Pass Trail: Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming (Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area Project).
- McShane, Jack C. (2005) A Comparative Study of the Donner Party Camp’s Meadow Locale at Alder Creek and the Murphy Cabin at Donner Lake.
UM archaeological field school students excavate the historic dump at Fort Missoula, expecting to learn more about the lives of the 25th Infantry Regiment (“Buffalo Soldiers”) who were stationed at Fort Missoula between 1888 and 1898.
A mix of UM undergraduate and graduate students investigate one among many untold stories related to Missoula's Historic Underground on a field trip in ANTY 456 Historical Archaeology.
Western Montana has many abandoned, historic mining "ghost towns" like Coloma, a gold mining community in the Garnet Range. For years, Coloma served as an outdoor classroom for UM archaeology students and those working with the SS 244 lab have had the good fortune to develop partnerships with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conduct research at this remote and scenic site. This photo shows one among scores of ruins scattered across the landscape at Coloma that students have helped document.