Consultation with state and public personnel in matters concerning evidence used in the personal identification of human remains. Presentation of lectures and seminars to a variety of civic and law enforcement personnel on forensic anthropology and its associated techniques and methodologies. Repository for unidentified human remains submitted for forensic analysis until positive identification is achieved. Lab is administrated as a part of the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University. The lab thus carries forward the scholarship initiated by Professor Fred Kniffen in the 1930s - scholarship that combined keen interests in the interpretation of historic landscapes, material culture, and folk culture through the perspectives of cultural geography and anthropology.
Varied courses draw on the lab's facilities.
These include, among others, vernacular architecture, material culture, and the study of folklore. These are field-oriented courses that enable students to participate in fieldwork and interpretation of the folk cultural legacy of Louisiana and the South. Course projects include the construction of scale models and museum dioramas. To aid the in the interpretation of Louisiana and Southern culture, the Kniffen Lab functions as a repository for information on the culture history of the area. Its resources include cultural surveys, a library of books and reports on Louisiana and its material culture, examples of Historic American Building surveys, and resources for dating historic buildings.