The Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology is an independent research unit within the Bloomington campus of Indiana University. For administrative purposes the Laboratory is part of the Division of Research and the University Graduate School, and the Director of the Laboratory, Christopher S. Peebles, reports directly to the Vice President of that Division.

The Laboratory was established in 1965 with the transfer of archaeological records, artifact collections, and other resources from the Indiana Historical Society. This transfer was coordinated with a building construction grant made by Lilly Endowment, Inc. The goal of the Society was to place the State archaeological research program, which it had fostered for more than 35 years, in an academic context where it would benefit from related research efforts and contribute to the educational programs of the institution.

The majority of the support for the operations and research of the Laboratory and its staff comes from the Glenn A. and Ida M. Black Endowment and the Angel Mounds Fellowship Fund, each ultimately a gift from Mr. Eli Lilly. Additional support comes from contracts administered by the Cultural Resources Management Program of the Laboratory. Approximately 10% of the operating budget of the Laboratory (ca. $600,000 per year, total) comes from the General Fund of Indiana University through the Division of Research and University Graduate School.

The fundamental mission of the Laboratory is the conduct of high-quality, original archaeological research on the prehistory and history of Indiana and to train professional archaeologists as a part of this research. To this end the Laboratory undertakes field work, curates the collections derived from these projects, administers publication and public education programs, and serves as a clearing-house for information on the study and conservation of archaeological resources.

The association of the Laboratory with a major research university provides both the obligation and the opportunity for its staff and their research to contribute to the wider educational mission of the institution. In large measure this goal is served by supporting the research efforts of graduate and undergraduate students and through administration of the Prehistory Research Fellowship program for graduate students. Moreover, because archaeology is of interest to the public, the Laboratory staff believes that it is essential to communicate with that constituency. Consequently, Laboratory personnel work with a vocational organizations, respond to a wide range of requests for archaeological information, and foster programs that contribute to a better public understanding of archaeological scholarship and historic preservation.

The Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology is housed in a modern structure (1971) specifically designed to support archaeological research and the curation of collections. Approximately 12,000 square feet of space is devoted to archival storage, collections conservation and storage, and specialized laboratories. The facilities include a modern photographic studio and darkroom, a drafting room, offices for graduate students and permanent staff, and a large library and seminar room. An 80 seat auditorium and museum hall constitutes an important, public part of the Laboratory building.

The research library comprises several thousand volumes on the archaeology of Indiana and the Midwest, general theoretical works in anthropology, ethnohistory, and archaeology, and current journal series relevant to the discipline and region. The library actively collects the limited distribution, so-called "gray" literature on the archaeology of the Southeast and Midwest, and presently houses several hundred unpublished technical reports on the archaeology of the Indiana and the Ohio Valley. Other archival collections include the archaeological papers of Eli Lilly, Glenn A. Black, and James H. Kellar. The largest and most important holding is the Ohio Valley-Great Lakes Ethnohistory Archive. This collection comprises: 1) over one thousand reels of microfilm of original documents from the major archives in the United States, Great Britain, and France, 2) more than eight hundred loose-leaf volumes of documents indexed by Native American polity and by year, and 3) several hundred photocopies of important maps indexed by year and geographic coverage.

The Laboratory has its own computer system that is connected by Gigabit Ethernet to the campus network and to the Internet, Internet2, and other national and international networks. The Laboratory has sufficient "Wintel," Apple, and Sun desktop computers and servers to provide each member of the staff, the Laboratory Fellows, and visitors with a dedicated computer and centralized storage. The full range of "Office," GIS, database, statistical, and geophysical applications are available on these computers. The computing resources of the Laboratory are connected to the varied computing resources and support services offered by University Information Technology Services. Included among these assets are two "Teraflop" supercomputers, near- and far-line massive data storage, and support for statistical, database, GIS, and other applications.

In addition to the specialized physical and computational facilities, the Laboratory is equipped to undertake most archaeological field and laboratory investigations. These resources include a Geoscan FM36 gradiometer, RM 15 resistivity meter, and a Geonics EM 38 conductivity meter for geophysical survey, other state-of-the-art surveying instruments, digital and conventional film cameras, hand tools for excavation, augurs for testing, microscopes, etc. Transportation is provided by vehicles owned by the Laboratory and from the university motor pool.

As one of the major archaeological facilities in Indiana, and as the direct descendent of a research program that began more than 50 years ago, the Laboratory curates records and collections that are requisite for archaeological investigations in the State. There are currently more than 20,000 individual sites recorded in the site survey file. Most areas of the State are represented in this file, but counties in the southern one-half of the State are documented far more extensively than those in the northern one-half.

The Laboratory holds more than 9,000 accessioned collections, numbering several million artifacts, together with their provenance and curation documents. These collections derive from prehistoric and historic contexts in the State, and in the vast majority of cases, they are documented fully in terms of their origin and curation history. Major collections include excavations by Glenn A. Black at the Angel site, and James H. Kellar at the Mann site. The Laboratory is also the home for collections made by Mr. Eli Lilly and by Dr. Robert Plank.

The permanent laboratory staff is composed of a Director (Ph.D.), who traditionally holds a tenured academic appointment in the Department of Anthropology, an Assistant Director and Curator of Collections (M.A.), who oversees cataloging, curation and collections management, and a principal administrator, archivist, and librarian who is responsible for day-to-day administration of the Laboratory. The current Director, C. S. Peebles, holds the rank of Professor of Anthropology and has additional teaching appointments in Semiotics and in the Cognitive Sciences Program; he also serves as Associate Vice President for Information Technology for Indiana University. Four graduate student Prehistory Research Fellows and two Postdoctoral scholars are associated with the research of the Laboratory. Noel Justice directs the curatorial work of the Laboratory and Toni Lynn Giffin serves as the archivist/business manager. The Cultural Resources Management Program, led by Ms. Melody Pope, employs additional hourly and bi-weekly staff when large projects are undertaken. The full and part-time hourly staff customarily ranges from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 30 individuals.

The Laboratory can call on colleagues from the Indiana Geological Survey, departments of Computer Science, Geology, Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, and Folklore (folk architecture and culture), and the Laboratory of Comparative Zoology as consultants on particular projects. The Laboratory has an informal board of external consultants--with the title of Senior Research Archaeologist (adjunct)--drawn from government and university departments in North America and Europe.

The Laboratory has had a significant role in the historic preservation effort in Indiana. The records and collections have been used extensively to assist public and private agencies to meet legally mandated requirements for evaluation and protection of prehistoric and historic cultural resources. The professional staff, under various grants and contracts, has been responsible for numerous small and large field projects to conserve the historic resources of Indiana. The staff and students associated with the Laboratory are active in professional archaeological organizations at the state, regional, and national levels and they have contributed an incalculable number of hours to the state in the development of its cultural resource management effort. More than two decades of involvement by the staff of the Laboratory at administrative and project management has produced substantial familiarity with the procedures necessary for compliance with federal and state historic preservation laws and guidelines and the planning and carrying out of projects.

During the past decade the Laboratory staff has responded to nearly 8000 requests from project planners for archaeological site information, evaluation, and recommendations. Personnel have undertaken more than 2000 field surveys designed to locate and assess the significance of archaeological sites. At least 500 of these projects have been followed by field testing or by excavation. The senior staff of the Laboratory has directed major archaeological data recovery efforts at several major sites in Indiana, the Midwest, and the Southeast. One of these projects entailed responsibility for the entire management process--from survey through site testing and, finally, excavation--to mitigate the proposed destruction of a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.