New England Antiquities Research Association

 

Stone Age Research Center Opens In Indiana

Reprinted from the Yahoo News

 

 

 

December 5, 2003

 

A husband-and-wife team of anthropologists has opened a new center devoted to research of the Stone Age, offering scholars laboratories and 50,000 books and articles on the lives of early humans.

 

Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick of Indiana University are scheduled to dedicate the CRAFT Stone Age Institute Friday. The name stands for Center for Research into the Anthropological Foundations of Technology.

 

The center north of Bloomington features laboratories, offices, meeting rooms and a large, open library with a vaulted ceiling.

 

"We're planning on it being an international research facility, to provide a haven for people doing various investigations from around the world," Schick said. "The emphasis is really on research, but the educational component is there too."

 

Construction was paid for using private donations. The center will not be open to the public.

 

The main entrance features a tower inspired by ancient stone structures in Scotland. It was built using sandstone, limestone and flint, the material of choice for Stone Age tools.

 

"We decided to make an architectural statement in stone," Toth said.

 

The center's library holds skulls of humans and animals and prized stone spear points, ax blades and other tools. Most of the 50,000 books and articles are from the collection of J. Desmond Clark, the couple's mentor at the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Toth and Schick have been on the IU faculty since 1986. Their specialty is fashioning stone tools to learn about the challenges faced by Stone Age men and women.

 

They also study how chimpanzees and other primates learn to use tools, helping shed light on how Stone Age people solved problems.

 

"We find that doing these experiments just gives you tremendous insight into understanding the Stone Age, understanding the artifacts you dig up and your sites," Schick said.

 

They said the center will function as an outpost of Indiana University, providing jobs and research opportunities for faculty and students.

 

The center will help recruit researchers and enable them to host an annual conference on Stone Age studies at the site.

 

Toth said studying the Stone Age is basic to understanding humankind.

 

"Ninety-nine percent of human history took place in the Stone Age," he said. "What we are, biologically and physically and socially, took shape in the Stone Age."

 

 

 

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