Heather Barras serves as the Laboratory Assistant for CRA. She is experienced in prehistoric and historic archaeology and acted as the project manager for a phase I project located in the Western Pennyroyal physiographic region.
Heather is responsible for the processing of incoming project artifacts and the development of project film. She also takes care of the analysis of prehistoric artifacts, which entails size grading, raw material typing, and reduction stage determination, in addtion to writing the segment of the final report concerning these tasks. She is responsible for the cataloguing and preparing of artifacts for museum curation, including the preparation of site documentation forms. She is also experienced in the processing of flotation materials from a variety of site types. Next, Heather is experienced in a variety of excavation styles, including shovel test probes, test units, and trenching on various phase I, II, and III projects. She has also documented architecturally significant historic homes. Lastly, Heather researches background information on sites and projects for current project areas at the Office of State Archaeology and other archives throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This process requires Heather to be experienced in reading quadrangle and historic maps and to have full knowledge of the location of file reports and site forms.
Heather became interested in archaeology during her study at Transylvania University, where she graduated in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in anthropology and sociology. Shortly after graduating, she began working for CRA.
Heather's main hobbies include crocheting and knitting. In the past, Heather has taken ballroom dancing lessons with her husband and holds a brown belt in Shaolin Do, a form of Kung Fu. Heather also enjoys cooking, listening to music, and reading. Presently, though, Heather spends the majority of her time adoring the newest addition to her family: her young son.