Luther College Anthropology Lab

12/04/2025

KCRG Highlights Luther Archaeological Research
Colin Betts was interviewed by KCRG TV-9 on his recent student-assisted remote sensing research on effigy mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument.

Questions linger about northeast Iowa's Effigy Mounds National Monument. A Luther College researches shares what he's learned about the mounds using remote sensing technology.

10/10/2025

https://www.sapiens.org/culture/ukraine-war-volunteers-weaving-camouflage-frontlines/

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukrainian volunteers have been gathering to create camouflage nets for fighters on the frontlines.

09/07/2025

Luther College anthropology professor Colin Betts, joined by three student researchers, spent the summer visiting historical cemeteries. See link below ⬇️ bit.ly/3JNPZFO

09/05/2025

Research at Effigy Mounds National Monument and several other northeast Iowa sites continues to shed light on the surprising interior makeup of linear mounds.

Colin Betts, a professor of anthropology at Luther College who conducted the research with help from his students, spoke about the process and what he learned during a presentation at the Effigy Mounds Visitor Center last month.

Park Superintendent Susan Snow said it’s through work like this that Effigy Mounds “can start to understand more about [the mounds] and more about the people that lived and worked in this area without having to use invasive techniques.”

The article has more info.

📰: https://times-register.com/articles/2025/09/03/look-beneath-surface-research-reveals-details-about-interior-linear-mounds

08/28/2025

A Luther College professor partnered with students over the summer to identify unmarked graves in Winneshiek County. Read more here: https://www.kcrg.com/2025/08/28/students-use-technology-find-unmarked-graves-winneshiek-co-cemeteries/

04/29/2025

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University of South Florida

04/10/2025

Close up of bandolier bag, circa the early 20th century, unknown Ojibwe maker.

04/01/2025

02/11/2025

Archaeologists have unearthed inscribed sandstone fragments recovered from several different burials in Norway’s Svingerud grave field that were originally part of a single stone engraved with a mixture of runes and other markings carved between 50 B.C. and A.D. 275.

archaeology.org/news/2025/02/04/early-runestone-unearthed-in-norway

(Kristel Zilmer)