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• Archaeological Science
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• IGERT Trainees
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• IGERT Seminar Archive
  •   2004
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  •   2008
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• Faculty Research
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• Educational Outreach (K-12)
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• Participating Programs
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      • PhD Program in Heritage Conservation Science
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  • Arizona State Museum
  • NSF IGERT
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The IGERT Program in Archaeological Sciences (2003 - 2008)

Evidence of silver extraction at La Isabela, Dominican Republic (1493-1497). Length of frame 1 mm.

In 2002 the IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) Program of the National Science Foundation awarded the University of Arizona a five-year grant (award DGE-0221594) to support interdisciplinary graduate education in the archaeological sciences (ending in August 2008). This webpage is maintained for archival purposes to demonstrate the goals and achievements of the IGERT program. The IGERT Trainees page provides current information on all past student IGERT participants, and the Outreach site includes archaeology and geology related lesson plans, activities, Powerpoint presentations, and resources for K - 12 instructors.

The aim of the IGERT program at the University of Arizona was to train a cadre of students already familiar with archaeological method and theory, such that they gain some understanding of the broad range of scientific techniques applicable to archaeology, and that they acquire specialist expertise in one or more of the subfields of archaeological science. The Principal Investigator was John Olsen (Head, Department of Anthropology)and the co-PI's were Jeffrey Dean (Laboratory of Tree Ring Research) and Joaquin Ruiz (Geosciences and Dean, College of Science). Participating faculty and research professionals are in four academic departments (Anthropology, Chemistry, Geosciences, and Materials Science and Engineering), in the Arizona State Museum, the Laboratory for Tree Ring Research (LTRR), the Center for Applied Spatial Analysis (CASA), the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Laboratory and two private companies - Desert Archaeology Inc. and Statistical Research Inc.

The IGERT program had three major foci. The first was absolute dating (chronometry) by such techniques as radiocarbon and dendrochronology. The second focus was on the reconstruction of past climates, environments and subsistence practices, by specialists in limnology, botany, zoology, palynology, geomorphology, dendroclimatology, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and isotopic techniques. The third was on materials and technologies with subfields including conservation science, past technologies (metals, ceramics, glass, lithic materials) and provenance studies by geological, chemical and isotopic methods.

The IGERT award, supplemented by additional funds from the University of Arizona, allowed us to provide support (stipend plus tuition) for up to 14 graduate students per year. Over the five years of the IGERT program, we funded 42 students in many academic departments including Anthropology, Geosciences, Chemistry, Geography, and Materials Science and Engineering. Thus far 10 trainees have graduated with their PhDs, while 28 continue graduate research at the University of Arizona. Although the IGERT program has officially ended, all of the collaborations established under IGERT have continued, and we invite potential students to explore this website to look for graduate and research opportunities through the interdepartmental connections that have been established with the help of this NSF IGERT funding.

Any further inquiries should be directed to the IGERT coordinator,
Dr. David Killick
Email: (killick@u.arizona.edu)
Phone No.: (520) 621-8685