Renewal Project
Archaeology Lab
The Laboratory of Archaeology
The Laboratory of Archaeology (LOA), a partner in the "Partnership of Peoples" project, is an autonomous research and teaching unit within the UBC Department of Anthropology. Created in 1949 by the late Dr. Charles Borden (often referred to as the father of B.C. archaeology), LOA is actively engaged in undergraduate, graduate, and public education, as well as the research and exhibition of existing archaeological collections. LOA receives frequent requests from B.C. First Nations and Bands for information about the collections, both for research purposes and to initiate the repatriation of materials back to their originating communities.
In order to meet its responsibility to further knowledge of the past, LOA is committed to the scholarly study of material evidence of earlier cultures. LOA also recognizes the rights of descendants and originating peoples, and is committed to dealing sensitively and responsibly with First Nations groups regarding the care and disposition of these materials.
LOA joined with MOA in the original "Partnership of Peoples" grant application in support of the project's fundamental vision to enhance access to cultural heritage for communities through new physical and virtual research facilities. Subscribing to a holistic vision of cultural heritage means breaking through the academically recognized boundaries between archaeology and ethnology.
To enhance access, LOA has created an object database of the collections it holds in trust for the First Nations of British Columbia. This database, complete with thousands of images, enables LOA to be one of the partners in the Reciprocal Research Network. LOA has also re-housed the collections in a state-of-the-art closed storage system which, together with a new research room, enhances the ability of researchers, community members, and students to access the collections. Within the new facilities, LOA and MOA share a culturally sensitive research room, in which community members are able to work with their cultural heritage in appropriate ways.
Archaeological research requires dedicated laboratories where specialists and students can analyze ancient materials. As part of the new infrastructure, a number of specialized labs were built. These include a chemistry lab, where materials are analyzed to gain a better understanding of people's diets and trade routes; a lithics lab, where researchers learn through experimentation how to replicate and thus understand the process of making tools in the past; and a faunal/ethnobotany lab, where animal bones, seeds, and plant remains are analyzed to provide an understanding of ancient hunting, fishing, and plant use practices. LOA and MOA have also jointly built a ceramics laboratory for the study of ceramics from around the world.
