Past ATAM Research
Professor Wayne Pitard (Program for the Study of Religion) works with Bruce Zuckerman at the University of Southern California to digitize ancient Near Eastern cylinder seals up to five thousand years old house at the U of I's Spurlock Museum. Students at both institutions are collaborating with the two professors, learning how to use 3D imaging to build a virtual library.
Professors Bruce Fouke (Geology) and Eric Hostetter (Classics and Art History) used new geochemical dating techniques on tufa and travertine quarries in Rome in an attempt to provide absolute dates for ancient buildings such as the Colosseum.
Professor Stanley Ambrose (Anthropology) is an African archaeologist and paleoecologist with a special interest in reconstructing Early Hominid environments using stable isotope analyses of human and animal bones, teeth, and other organic remains.
Professor Ripan Malhi (Anthropology) integrates population genetics, phylogenetics, ancient DNA analysis, and field research in collaboration with Native American communities. His recent research includes when and how the First Americans arrived in North America.
During the 1990s, an interdisciplinary ATAM team used non-destructive imaging techniques and materials analyses of tiny samples to study the Spurlock Museum's only human mummy. The investigation concentrated on the age, sex, and medical history of the person inside the mummy and embalming processes used in Roman Egypt. The CT scans were repeated in 2011, yielding new results and spectacular new images.