::: The Archaeological Research Center (ARC) is one component of the broader Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Studies within the Anthropology Department at California State University, Sacramento. A principal goal of the ARC is to facilitate faculty and student research via funding obtained from outside contract and grants.  Although much of the work falls under the purview of cultural resources management, ARC has been successful in maintaining a research focus among the vast majority of its projects.  Most of these are done for various state and federal agencies, involving significant reconnaissance efforts, multi-site evaluation studies, and intensive data recovery programs. To accommodate such projects, ARC maintains professional expertise in GIS, zooarchaeology, paleobotany, human osteology, and flaked and ground stone analysis. The ARC has its own obsidian hydration laboratory and curates comparative/teaching collections of vertebrate and invertebrate faunal remains, seed, nut, and root remains, and representative artifact types from the western Great Basin and California.  Detailed more fully elsewhere, the ARC also maintains a wide array of equipment and vehicles needed to conduct survey and excavation projects. Results of the numerous archaeological investigations conducted by ARC staff and students are routinely summarized in major technical reports :::
 

EDUCATION : OUR FUTURE //

::: One of the ARC's key purposes is to provide undergraduate and, especially, graduate students with hands-on experience in archaeological field methods, specialized analytical techniques, and report writing.  The Center is a non-profit, educational enterprise dedicated to training future professionals and better understanding the diverse threads of the Great Basin and California's past. Students participate in both the field and lab components of projects, get an opportunity to become proficient in one or more analytical specialties (faunal and floral interpretation, flaked and ground stone studies), and learn how to use the data they collect to address particular archaeological problems. Many of these activities lead directly to preparation of papers for professional conferences or form major pieces of the student thesis project.  Facilities, vehicles, equipment, and collections maintained at ARC are available to students, as are dedicated funds to cover costs of thesis fieldwork and specialized analyses like radiocarbon dating and x-ray fluorescence of obsidian. The active obsidian hydration lab is not intended for commercial purposes, but is employed expressly in support of faculty and student research endeavors. In addition to contributing to a strong resume, increasingly important upon matriculation, ARC research and writing experiences prepare students for a wide range of positions in the public and private sectors :::

CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT : OUR RESPONSIBILITY//

 ::: At the heart of the ARC are the diverse contracts and grants performed pursuant to the cultural resources management needs of numerous clients.  These provide the funds needed to lease labs and vehicles, purchase equipment, and support staff and student positions.  Indeed, many graduate students cover many of the costs of school via their activities at the ARC and participation in various contract projects. The two Co-Directors/Principal Investigators, Mark E. Basgall and Michael G. Delacorte, have a combined 60+ years working on major management-related projects throughout much of California and the western Great Basin; both gained much of their early experience working at Far Western in Davis, California, a premier archaeological consulting firm. Faculty are complemented by a professional staff that brings additional skills and experience to ARC projects. These individuals offer expertise in project management, interpretation of regulatory issues, and specialized analytical techniques; they also work closely with students in many field and laboratory situations ::: 

::: ARC has performed work for a wide array of agencies that include the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), the California Army National Guard, the Department of Defense (Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the United States Forest Service (USFS).  Projects have also been conducted for a host of private concerns and via teaming efforts with other consulting firms. The Center prides itself in the quality of its management reports, its innovative approaches to solving cultural resource problems, and its ability to achieve these results at costs far below those of many competing operations :::