For many years, zooarchaeology has been a mainstay of
archaeological research at the University of Tennessee. First developed by
Dr. Paul Parmalee,
Professor Emeritus, the program is currently directed by
Dr. Walter Klippel
assisted by numerous graduate students engaged in zooarchaeological research througout the world.
The zooarchaeological comparative
collection, established in the early 1970's, has grown to over 9,500 vertebrates
and 1,500 mollusks making it one of the largest and most diverse in the nation.
Additionally, recent support from a NSF grant facilitated computerization and
reorganization of the collection into heavy versus basic research components.
This has greatly increased efficiency in comparisons and the ability to
accommodate visiting researchers.
Augmenting Departmental collections, the
Frank H. McClung Museum houses a significant
mollusk collection comprised of approximately 4,000 lots of freshwater mussels
and freshwater and terrestrial gastropods. The freshwater mussels alone — not
counting the marine mollusks and North American gastropods &em; total about 30,000
specimens. Although the majority of specimens are from eastern North America,
the collection contains materials from the western United States, Canada,
Europe, China, South America, and Mexico as well. With the continual decline in
species diversity and abundance — and even extinction (the Museum has specimens
of several taxa of freshwater mussels that are now extinct) — such reference
collections as this one take on an even greater scientific value.
Dr. William C. Dickinson (Aquatic Biologist) is a member of the ARL staff and an
undisputed expert in fish bone identification. His work includes fish, shellfish, and
wildlife studies.
