Bioarchaeology laboratory

Laboratory links: Homepage Facilities Mini-excavations Conservation Identification Records

Our laboratory is currently housed in an old school building. There are indoor areas for our tool cupboards, stores, macrophotography, computer-based activities and the project office. Work areas are mainly outdoors, under sunshades, because there is more space, better ventilation and our activities are dusty. The facility also has storage for the excavated pot burials before processing and for the skeletons once we have cleaned, conserved and recorded them.

Each student and staff member has their own work table and we supply all the equipment and materials that they will need for all stages of the work. This is where the boxed burials are opened and the skeleton is exposed in a small-scale tabletop excavation of the soil ball inside. The skeleton is mapped and photographed, often including 3D imaging. Then the remains are lifted, cleaned and conserved. They are identified, measured, catalogued, and stored in a system of plastic boxes. Records are kept with standard close-up photographs, a system of record sheets and a database. All this is coordinated and supported by the supervisors, who use the record sheets to keep track of students' progress. After initial work in small groups, we hope that each student will complete work on about 5 burials working independently.