Facilities & labs
Biological anthropology lab
The biological anthropology lab (COR B220) has the facilities to support research in biological anthropology.
Our lab is equipped with standard osteometric equipment (calipers, osteometric boards), anthropometry instruments and a Sahara clinical bone sonometer. In addition, a Metron 3D scanner and software supports 3D imaging of osteological and archaeological material.
We also have basic field equipment (e.g. GPS, rechargeable batteries, tents), camera-trap devices and directional microphones for recording primate behaviour in the wild, along with software for photogrammetry and audio-visual analyses.
The department's collection of non-archaeological human skeletons provides students the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning in practices of human skeletal identification and interpretation. Our collection includes a full range of hominin fossil casts of fossils as well as representative modern primates.
We welcome volunteer research assistants, and frequently have paid positions to assist with ongoing projects in both GAB Lab and PhASE.
The great ape behaviour lab (GAB Lab), led by , provides field work and research opportunities to study wild great apes with a focus on tool use, culture, communication and conservation. Dr. Kalan maintains research collaborations with multiple great ape field sites and is a research affiliate of the Pan African Project.
Current and recent student projects include foraging communication in chimpanzees, site distribution and stone tool analysis of chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing, and behavioural responses to human disturbance.
The PhASE research group is a collaborative network of researchers and students interested in human morphological variation, how and why it develops over the lifespan, and its origins and evolution.
The group is led by Drs. Alison Murray, Stephanie Calce, Sarah-Louise Decrausaz and Helen Kurki. They maintain research collaborations with researchers across Canada, the US and the UK.
Current and recent student projects include an examination of adaptive responses during growth of the bony pelvis, climbing as a selective pressure shaping the human gluteus maximus and investigating patterns of long bone growth in past populations.
Environmental archaeology lab
The environmental archaeology lab (COR B344) supports research in coastal archaeology and historical ecology.
This lab is equipped with a large double sink, a large sediment trap, wet counterspace, multiple sorting tables, lockable shelving storage, researcher workstations and an examination table which additionally serves as a research group meeting space.
Activities include processing sediment samples, analyzing archaeological material, and sorting fish and shellfish samples. The lab is variously equipped with nested geological sieves, low power dissecting microscopes, digital calipers, cafeteria trays, tiny tweezers (insect forceps), a Dremel tool for isotopic sampling and a needer-arm for air circulation.
In addition, the lab has access to a Metron 3D scanner and a slide projector, a Nikon Total Station, a phone adaptable macro lens for artifact photography and an Kodak 35 mm slide projector.
The department's archaeological research has tended to focus on coastal archaeology and historical ecology and gives students the opportunity to learn practices of sorting, analysis and interpretation. We also have a small comparative shellfish collection that complements the more representative collection in the zooarchaeology lab.
The is a multi-disciplinary group of students, post docs and collaborators led by Dr. Iain McKechnie. They work with Coastal First Nations on research topics that have relevance for contemporary conservation, environmental management and Indigenous governance.
Current research projects include the 2016-2022 UVic archaeology field school in Tseshaht Territory, the archaeology of Indigenous fisheries and shellfisheries, the domestication of Coast Salish and Nuu-chah-nulth "wool" dogs and the maritime fur trade before British Columbia.
Counter currency lab
The counter currency lab (COR B336) is an interdisciplinary social scientific initiative that facilitates research and teaching on money, complementary currencies and the future of payment and payment systems.
The lab has three main research foci:
- analyzing debates over money in Islamic economics and finance
- examining how the production of money becomes the object of political intervention and activism
- researching alternative, local, and complementary currencies
The counter currency laboratory is also the repository for the archives of the Comox Valley Green Dollar, the world’s first modern local exchange trading system (LETS), which was pioneered on Vancouver Island in the 1980s. The director of the lab is Daromir Rudnyckyj.
For more information please visit the .
Ethnographic mapping lab
The ethnographic mapping lab (COR B132D) provides a space to support communities and scholars to engage in mapping Indigenous territories in support of Aboriginal title and rights, public education, inter-generational knowledge transfer and language revitalization.
The lab is equipped with GIS and qualitative data analysis software, to support research and innovation in projects like traditional land use and occupancy mapping in Indigenous communities and to provide space for interview transcription, high-speed document scanning and software supported qualitative analysis.
Check out the and follow the lab on .
Archaeology lab
The archaeology lab (COR B343) houses research collections, workstations and provides bench space for graduate student and faculty research projects.
Collections include stone tools (archaeological examples, casts and replicas) that offer students the opportunity to study material of different ages from all over the world and to learn about a wide variety of techniques from flint knapping to grinding. The lab is equipped with computers, microscopes and digitizing equipment available to support student research.
Students in our department have benefitted from having access to state-of-the-art lab facilities in other departments, for example in the Earth and Ocean Sciences Department. The lab provides a focal point for volunteer networks and a gathering place for students and faculty with interests in archaeology.
Zooarchaeology lab
(COR B222) is the largest and most extensive collection of animal skeletons in the Pacific Northwest.
Comprised of over 2500 fish, bird and mammal skeletons, the collection is routinely used by faculty, students and visiting researchers as an aid in identifying archaeological, paleontological and modern animal bone in research centred on dietary analyses, environmental reconstruction and animal behavior.
In certain circumstances, the department charges a bench fee to access the collection. Waivers are available to eligible users.
Questions may be directed via email.