Collections Management

LOA Policies and Procedures

The Laboratory of Archaeology (LOA) Committee regularly reviews operating procedures and policies for collection management.

Storage Guidelines

All materials, regardless of antiquity or geographic origin, are treated with respect and carefully stored in appropriate facilities. The Laboratory protects these materials from physical deterioration and theft, within the limits of the budget allocated, and with security services provided by the University.

Materials collected under permit

LOA curates materials collected under permit by U.B.C. faculty and students in the course of their academic research. In exceptional cases, LOA may also accept materials from non-U.B.C. archaeological resource assessment and mitigation projects where the materials originate from sites already represented in the collections in order to preserve the integrity of the site assemblage as whole. 

Materials not collected under permit

All archaeological materials that were collected prior to the enactment of the British Columbia Heritage Conservation Act, or that were received as donations, are treated as permit collections and are subject to the same provisions of this policy, although the exact legal status of these materials is not clear. 

Extra-University Legislation and Policy

All cultural materials and human remains curated in the LOA are treated in conformity with all relevant federal and provincial legislation governing such items. The Laboratory adheres to the U.B.C. Research Ethics Policy.