Current Lab Work

Many people equate archaeological discovery with excavation, and, indeed, many exciting "finds" have been made at the point of a trowel. But fieldwork is only the beginning of the process of discovery.

Laboratory Analysis: An Essential Part of Research

In Crow Canyon’s archaeological laboratory, artifacts recovered during excavation are carefully analyzed for clues to how the Pueblo Indians of the Mesa Verde region lived hundreds of years ago.

Pottery fragments, stone tools, animal bone, and plant remains—all represent some aspect of past human behavior. By studying the objects themselves, the contexts in which they were found, and their distributions across the landscape, we can begin to reconstruct the Pueblo peoples’ adaptation to their physical and social environments.

We Need Your Help!

Laboratory work is exacting and time consuming—for every day spent in the field, Crow Canyon archaeologists spend about four days in the laboratory. For that reason, we count on students and adults enrolled in our various research programs to help us keep pace.

Under the close supervision of staff archaeologists, participants in Crow Canyon research programs process and analyze a variety of artifacts and samples. The data that result, combined with observations recorded in the field, form the basis of the interpretations presented in our site reports. As in the field, public involvement in the laboratory is essential to our overall research effort.