For decades, the Museum has partnered with scientists at Kent State University to advance research in the fields of anthropology and archaeology. The partnership began as a natural exchange of ideas and resources: Kent State anthropologists have long studied the Museum’s collection of fossils and artifacts related to ancient humans, while graduate students have led archaeological excavations with the Museum.
Today, the partnership continues through collaborations with Kent State’s state-of-the-art Experimental Archaeology Lab, founded by Dr. Metin Eren—Kent State’s Director of Archaeology and a Museum Research Associate. The lab draws upon examples from the Museum’s vast collections to recreate Stone Age artifacts, exploring how ancient humans created and used tools, weapons, pottery, and more. The collaboration reflects the Museum and Kent State’s shared commitment to studying the Stone Age people of the lower Great Lakes, an area whose unique glacial patterns have made it ripe for Paleolithic discoveries.
And this year, the partnership has led to several new developments—including a video series that ran during the 2024 Summer Olympics and the publication of an experimental study on Paleolithic hunting!
The study, “The gravity of Paleolithic hunting,” was published this month in the Journal of Archaeological Science that was co-authored by Dr. Eren and Dr. Michelle Bebber—the lab’s Co-Director, a Museum Research Associate, and an Assistant Professor at Kent State. In the study, researchers explored how topography influenced ancient hunting strategies by testing two classic Stone Age hunting tools—the javelin and the atlatl.
Learn more about the collaboration between the Museum and Kent State University in the blog post, "Hands-On History: Museum Partners with Kent State Experimental Archaeology Lab to Explore Stone-Age Technology."
Learn more about Kent State's lab in their article, "Uncovering History: Inside the World's Premier Experimental Archaeology Lab at Kent State."
