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University of Wyoming

About the Frison Institute


The George C. Frison Institute is a UW research and outreach facility dedicated to the study of North American, High Plains, and Rocky Mountain archaeology and culture. The Institute fosters interdisciplinary and international scholarship, with an emphasis on early peoples and peopling of the Americas. The Institute maintains labs, administrates programs, and engages in public outreach. Most scientists at the Institute are engaged in studies leading to innovative analytical techniques of faunal remains, chipped stone remains, and site structure studies leading to new interpretations and ideas about prehistory. The Institute is dedicated to public education through volunteer participation in its field and lab programs, field school, consultations, public speaking, and cooperation with the Wyoming Archaeological Society.

Medicine Lodge Creek: Holocene Archaeology of the Eastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming now available.

Paleoindian Program


The Institute's Paleoindian program is designed to investigate early Plains and Rocky Mountain prehistory with a special emphasis on peopling of the New World. As a part of this program the Institute maintains co-operative agreements with a number of institutions and interdisciplinary contacts with specialists in geology, botany, geography, and other disciplines. The Paleoindian programs include: 

  • Documentation and understanding of western Plains late Pleistocene and early Holocene environments, human ecology, geology, the development of post-glacial landscapes, and other variables relevant to Pleistocene/Holocene transition human populations
  • Plains Paleoindian program, includes research at classic sites such as Hell Gap and Agate Basin

Reopening the witness wall at Locality I - Hell Gap site, Wyoming

Rocky Mountain Paleoindian Program is currently centered on the Middle and North Park regions of the Southern Rocky Mountains. One goal of this project is:

  • To document Paleoindian prehistory and occupation of the Rocky Mountains including a thorough understanding of Pleistocene/Holocene period transitional environments

Jerry Craig excavating at the Jerry Craig Site, Middle Park, Colorado


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Geographic Information Science in Anthropology

 


The Institute's Geographic Information Science in Anthropology program performs basic and applied research into the geo-spatial nature of Wyoming, High Plains, and Rocky Mountain archaeology. This program encompasses the acquisition, exchange, management, analysis, and representation of spatial anthropological and archaeological data. Cooperative projects between the Institute, Department of Anthropology, State Historic Preservation Office Cultural Records Office, Bureau of Land Management, and the University of Wyoming's Spatial Data and Visualization Center are currently under way. One example is the research into the spatial characteristics of archaeological sites and how these characteristics can be used to inform and predict archaeological site locations. GIS allows researchers to access data never before available in digital form. The GIScience program includes such things as:

  • Aiding the Wyoming Cultural Records Office in a Pilot GIS project using the Moxa Arch region of southwestern Wyoming (Done through a cooperative agreement with the Department of Anthropology and the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office and funded by the BLM). This study will determine the most efficient method to create and maintain a Geographic Information System, and will be used to discuss prehistoric human use of the Green River Basin, Wyoming.
  • Expansion to other areas of Wyoming, the High Plains, and Rocky Mountains to better understand human landscape use throughout prehistory in this region.
  • Education of archaeology and anthropology students and archaeological professionals in the use of GI Systems (the technology) and GI Science (the investigation of geo-spatial data or data that can be linked to specific locations on the earth's surface and how those data are conceptualized by humans, both modern and prehistoric).

 

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International Cooperative Programs


The Institute develops and maintains co-operative agreements with facilities with similar interests throughout the world, but especially from Siberia to Patagonia:

  • Far Eastern State University, Laboratory of Anthropology, Vladivostok, Russia--shared interest in peopling of the western hemisphere and Circum-Pacific cultures

George Frison giving a tour of the Hanson site, Wyoming to Russian students and teachers from Far Eastern State University, Vladivostock.

  • University of La Plata, Argentina (co-operative agreement under consideration)--shared interest in early populations of the Americas

Roxanna Cataneo (University of La Plata, Argentina) tanning a deer hide as part of her experimental archaeology project done at the Frison Institute.

Under this program students and faculty from Far Eastern State University, Russian Academy of Sciences, and University of La Plata have participated in archaeological activities of the Institute and University of Wyoming Students have participated in projects abroad.


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Fellowships


The Institute awards fellowships to short term resident researchers, ranked on the basis of education or commensurate experience: Junior Fellow (post-MA), Fellow (ABD, post-docs, or Assistant Professor), Senior Fellow (Associate Professor). Two grants per year for analysis of archaeological materials at UW are offered to fellows:

  • Faunal Grant--for work with the comparative or archaeological faunal collections
  • Paleoindian Grant--for work with the Paleoindian collections

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Culture, Environment, and Health


The study of Wyoming prehistory, including the distant past associated with the first peoples of the region, and history is enhanced through investigations of modern peoples and cultures. The Institute supports studies related to:

  • Uses, perceptions, and condition of water. Water plays a critical role for all Wyoming citizens and studies enhancing the understanding of water can be relevant to Wyoming
  • The use of natural herbs, including native Wyoming plants for healing. Rocky Mountain's rich plant flora has been used by Wyoming populations since the earliest prehistory and constitutes a relevant component for understanding past and present peoples
  • Circum-Pacific peoples. These populations form a significant link between Asia and America since the earliest peopling of the New World

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Public Outreach and Field School

 


In a co-operative venture with the Anthropology department and the Wyoming Archaeological Foundation, the Institute runs a biennial Paleoindian Advanced (graduate level) Archaeological Field Course at the Hell Gap site in southeast Wyoming. The advanced field school:

  • Takes students through the entire research process--from project design to report preparation
  • Trains students in the current, sophisticated, state-of-the-art, high tech field techniques and equipment
  • Trains students in basic laboratory and field procedures, including computer and software use
  • Teaches students to be professionals by presenting results of their research at conferences

 

Last Updated on 2/12/2009 9:08:39 AM