by Linley Mueller
When I was looking at the courses for CentreTerm, I saw that there were so many interesting classes offered. Originally, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but after seeing a class titled “Bone Rooms,” I knew I had found my choice. This class had the description, “Practice and Ethics in Skeletal Studies,” which was unlike any other course I had taken. I was only allowed certain classes in high school and I am planning on majoring in English while at Centre, so being able to take a skeletal studies class was an opportunity that I had to cease.
I enjoyed this class so much because the people there were so fun and the teacher was very nice and invested in the teaching material. I also liked being able to touch and label the bones. There were casts, real bones, and even a facial reconstruction project we got to work on. This facial reconstruction project was something that was completely new to me. We all got into pairs and were given casts of skulls, clay, toothpicks, and glass eyes to put in the skull. Because this was a bones class, we had been given the opportunity to identify and learn all of the parts of the skull and what they were called.
Our class got to work in a room full of bones on a group project as well. We were split up to label and arrange all of the bones to help organize and inventory what the school had. This was so cool to me because I didn’t realize how much work went into having this collection in an educational setting and how much care went into getting the bones. It was also very important to have ethically sourced bones and to know what that means. Our class got the chance to come up with ways to more ethically source the materials in the school. After learning a lot about the history of bone research and how bones in museums were sourced, we came to the conclusion that there are so many unethically and wrongfully sourced bones that were also made into casts. Watching videos about the history of anthropologists digging up bones that didn’t belong to them and how deep this past goes, our groups were also able to come up with solutions for the materials our school already has.
Because this was my first CentreTerm, I didn’t know what to expect but the 3 hour class every day was very helpful for me to learn more about anthropology and especially about the history of bone museums and research. After talking with other students about their experience, I realized that we all had fun during the three weeks we spent working hard. Also, since the class was during winter, watching snow fall during presentations and projects was only adding to my experience. The class was able to be inside and warm while taking notes and communicating about what we were observing. I had a great first CentreTerm as a freshman and I am excited to learn more about other opportunities and classes at Centre.