DENTAL MICROWEAR LAB
The Dental Microwear Laboratory in the Department of Anthropology at Georgia State University is curated by Dr. Frank L’Engle Williams. The Dental Microwear Laboratory houses a unique collection of dental impressions (n = 375), including specimens referred to fossil Parapapio, Papio, Theropithecus, Gorgopithecus, Dinopithecus, Cercopithecoides and Australopithecus as well as modern primate comparative material from Papio, Theropithecus, Colobus, Procolobus, Alouatta, Cebus, Pongo, Pan and Gorilla. The Dental Microwear Laboratory hosts two stereomicroscopes each equipped with an external movable light source and an ocular reticle to sample the occlusal surface for evidence of use-wear scars. A digital library of occlusal surfaces and statistical tools are also available to researchers and students to address the biochronology and paleoecology of Plio-Pleistocene southern Africa and Eurasia.
The dental impressions were collected from several museums and institutions, including the following:
- Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology (Cambridge, MA)
- American Museum of Natural History (New York City)
- Nationaal Natuurhistorie Museum (Leiden, the Netherlands)
- Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium)
- University of the Witwatersraad (Johannesburg, South Africa)
- Transvaal Museum (Pretoria, South Africa)
- South African Museum (Cape Town, South Africa)
Dr. Williams received additional training in dental microwear using white-light confocal microscopy and Scale-Sensitive Fractal Analysis at the Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas. A number of publications, presentations and theses have arisen from work in the Dental Microwear Lab.
Contact Us
The Department of Anthropology
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Department Specialist
Aikaterini Grigoriadou
[email protected]
Department Chair
Dr. Jennifer Patico
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Dr. Faidra Papavasiliou
Director of Graduate Studies
Dr. Bethany Turner-Livermore