News

Twelve students and five faculty members from the Department of Anthropology and Earth Science attended the Plains Anthropological Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota from October 4-17, 2017. The following seven co-authored talks and posters were presented, encompassing research across archaeology, cultural anthropology, geoarchaeology, geology, and GIS:  Read the rest of this entry →

Five faculty members (Rinita Dalan, Jayme Job, George Holley, Michael Michlovic, and Bruce Roberts) and nine students from the Department of Anthropology and Earth Science attended the Council for Minnesota Archaeology 2015 Conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota on February 13 and 14. Read the rest of this entry →

Close to 200 Boy Scouts converged on the MSUM campus Saturday, Nov. 23 to work on merit badges. Named the “Merit Badge University” this is an event held annually at one of the three universities in the area to give scouts work on the badges that assist them in their trail toward the Eagle Rank. Merit badges represent skill or knowledge areas where scouts can explore an area of study in depth and complete tasks in that area. Read the rest of this entry →

Rinita Dalan, George Holley, and Michael Michlovic of Anthropology and Earth Science will be presenting papers at the 71st Annual Plains Anthropological Conference in Loveland, Co., during the week of Oct. 2-6. These papers present results on on-going research in North Dakota and Minnesota, which include student contributions.

Michael Michlovic and George Holley, Anthropology and Earth Science, took four students to attend the 2013 Council for Minnesota Archaeology conference Feb. 8 and 9 at Inver Hills Community College. Holley presented a paper co-authored by Michlovic and Rinita Dalan on “Rexamining Plains Village Cultures in Minnesota.”

Michael Michlovic, George Holley and Rinita Dalan published a research note in The Minnesota Archaeologist, volume 70, 2011 “Swift County Archaeological Survey, 2010.” This publication is the result of their research funded by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment.

Michael Michlovic and George Holley, Department of Anthropology and Earth Science, were awarded a $39,900 grant from the Minnesota Historical Society and the Oversight Board of the Statewide Survey of Historical and Archaeological Sites. The grant is concerned with dating the enigmatic Plains Village culture in Western Minnesota and was funded by the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Rinita Dalan, George Holley, and Michael Michlovic, Anthropology and Earth Science, published an article in the October-December 2011 issue of the Wiley-Blackwell international journal Archaeological Prospection (Volume 18, Issue 4). The article, entitled “The Measurement and Analysis of Depth in Archaeological Geophysics: Tests at the Biesterfeldt Site, USA”, focused on the development of various innovative remote sensing techniques for extracting depth information at archaeological sites. Co-authors included colleagues from Dakota Technologies Inc., in Fargo, who worked with Dalan to test a prototype of their direct-push color system (which measures the reflection of light over the red–green–blue and near-infrared spectrum) for mapping the depths of archaeological features and stratigraphic layers.

Rinita Dalan, George Holley and Michael Michlovic, Anthropology and Earth Science, attended the 57th Annual Midwest Archaeological Conference held in LaCrosse, Wisc., with nine MSUM anthropology students. Michlovic presented a paper, authored by Michlovic, Holley and Dalan, entitled “A Survey Perspective on Settlement and Culture History on the Southwest Minnesota Prairie.” Holley also presented a paper entitled “Oneota in the Northwest: The Minnesota River Oneota Region.”

George Holley and Michael Michlovic, both Anthropology & Earth Science, took a group of 10 students on a tour of archaeological and historical sites in Ransom County, N.D., on September 24, 2011.