Archaeological coprolite science: The legacy of Eric O. Callen (1912–1970)

The detailed analysis of human coprolites as a recognized field of archaeological science is barely 40 years old. Dr. Eric O. Callen, the founder and developer of the discipline, has been dead for more than 30 years, yet the ideas he developed and techniques he perfected continue to guide the discipline today as it widens analysis into more areas than he ever dreamed possible. Callen would be gratified to learn that others have extended his initial research efforts to include the routine analysis of plant macrofossils, pollen concentration values, fauna and insects, phytoliths, and more recently, immunological proteins, trace elements, gas chromatography, and the extraction and identification of DNA from prehistoric human feces.