Laboratory of Archaeology

The Laboratory of Archaeology (LOA) is committed to the scholarly study of the material evidence of past cultures. The study of these materials is an essential part of the Laboratory's responsibility to further knowledge of the past. The Laboratory also recognizes the rights of descendants and originating peoples and is committed to dealing sensitively and responsibly with the First Nations groups on the care and disposition of these materials.

 The Laboratory of Archaeology (LOA) is an autonomous research and teaching unit of the Department of Anthropology created by the late Dr. Charles (Carl) Borden (often referred to as "the father of B.C. archaeology") in 1949. LOA is also actively engaged with public education, the curation of exisiting collections and frequent requests from B.C. First Nations and Bands for information about the collections and repatriation.

 Since 1977 the Laboratory has occupied space in both the Anthropology & Sociology Building (ANSO) and the Museum of Anthropology (MOA). The ANSO building houses faculty offices and research areas, the GIS Lab, the Geoarchaeology Lab, as well as image collections, and field gear. Since 2010, the newly renovated LOA facilities, located in the Museum building, accommodate a state-of-the-art Collections Repository, the Borden Research Lab, the Lithic Analysis Lab, the Faunal/Botanical Lab (with research bays for faculty, graduate student, and visiting researcher projects), the Archaeochemistry Lab, the Ceramic Analysis lab, and the Scanning Electron Microscope Lab. Our new research facility also houses the Archaeology Archives in the new MOA library, and a "Transition Lab"--an area for receiving and processing artifacts, flotation, and soil samples as they come in from the field.

 The Laboratory of Archaeology (LOA) policies and procedures describe the handling of cultural materials and human remains in LOA's care at all stages of collection, research, reporting of results, access, and repatriation.