Emily McDowell Assistant State Archaeologist and Laboratory Supervisor

Originally from a small town in Pennsylvania, Emily got her BS in anthropology and archaeology, with a concentration in bioarchaeology, from Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA. As a student she worked in several of the labs at Mercyhurst and attended a prehistoric field school in Gault, Texas. After graduating in 2010, she worked as supervisor of the college’s conservation lab, and was part of the excavation team for two years before moving to North Carolina to pursue an MA in forensic anthropology at North Carolina State University. During her time at NC State, Emily began volunteering at the OSA Research Center and joined OSA staff in 2014. 

Specializing in all things bone, Emily handles and identifies human and non-human remains at the Research Center. Other responsibilities include analyzing and preserving historic and prehistoric artifacts (she prefers prehistoric), managing all incoming and outgoing collections, and working with local universities and colleges to bring student researchers and volunteers to the lab. In her spare time, she teaches distance education courses in physical and forensic anthropology at NCSU.