For the fourth year in a row, Kimberlee Moran, assistant director of the Forensic Science program, helped showcased the day to day work of archaeologists by writing about her work as a forensic archaeologist in the worldwide Day of Archaeology held on July 29.

Day of Archaeology brings together students, volunteers, and professionals from around the world each year who are working in archaeology as a way to encourage public understanding about how archaeology is more than just the adventures of Indiana Jones or Lara Croft.

As the assistant director of the Forensic Science program at Arcadia University, Moran uses her archaeology skills to teach students about evidence gathering and crime scene processing. Since 2002, Moran has worked as a crime scene consultant throughout the U.S. and UK, and she has even been featured by MTV in an article that assessed the accuracy of decomposition in the AMC television show “The Walking Dead.”

“I believe that archaeologists are uniquely suited to bring best practices into the crime scene investigation world,” said Moran. “All field archaeologists are trained in the systematic examination of the remains of human activity.  Along with excavation and recovery of artifacts, archaeologists are skilled at documentation, reconstruction, and interpretation of past events.  Everything that makes an archaeologist is exactly what is required for crime scene and investigative work.”

Archaeologists can adapt their skills to work in a crime scene analytic capacity, which is what the new graduate Forensic Archaeology certificate program at Arcadia will address. Through this unique six-course program, archaeologists can learn how to process crime scenes and how to work in a forensic capacity. The certificate will begin in the fall of 2017 and is the first program in the country to formally fuse archaeology and forensic science.