R M Bogan Archaeological Repository offers staff, anthropologists state-of-the-art curation and storage
An exhilarated professor points to rows and rows of boxes, eagerly pulling out worn spearheads, withered rocks and tattered fragments. He cannot wait to share the history, the findings of each piece. These artifacts, dating back thousands of years, each tell a story, and Jared Wood, Ph.D., RPA, is thrilled to be the anthropologist to help narrate them.
Wood, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at 91Âţ»app, spent years studying Native American settlements and mounds along the coastal plain and Savannah River Valley, and is now focusing his efforts on other understudied parts of south Georgia, piecing together remnants of the various groups that made up the inhabitants of the area as far back as 14,000 years ago. He and his colleagues will use the University’s laser scanning and 3D mapping technology, along with other archaeological techniques, to find patterns that will help determine the belief systems, cultures, settlement patterns and boundaries of the area for the last several millenia.
“This kind of work is like a puzzle,” said Wood. “I get to break out my detective skills to piece together this constantly changing mosaic of humanity.”
Once Wood and his team finish at a site, they bring artifacts to the lab for cleaning, labeling and curating (the process involving organization, conservation, storage and care of artifacts for the long term). It’s easy to imagine that storing of hundreds of boxes, each containing invaluable historical artifacts, in a large enough, safe place, can prove difficult.

Jared Wood, Ph.D.
Tagged with: Press Release