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 Dr. Ammie Kalan, 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 historical ecology and coastal archaeology (HECA) lab 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 lab's website.
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 UVic ethnographic mapping lab website and follow the lab on Google+.
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 ICP-MS facilities 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
See why the department's zooarchaeology collection (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.
Bench Fees for the Department of Anthropology’s Zooarchaeological Collection
Commercial Use * (contract firms and researchers conducting paid research):
Daily Fee: $75 per day/desk
Monthly Fee: $1000/month/desk
Annual Fee: $5000 per year/desk
- CRA considers this equipment rental /leasing and GST 5% and PST 7% are applicable.
- Add the PST and GST on top of the rate the user is paying (i.e. 5%=$3.75 + 7%=$5.25 = $84.00)
These fees can be combined. Different members of one contracting firm can share the monthly cost if, for example, one member wants to use a shared desk space for 5 days and another wants to use it for 15 days in one calendar month. Please enquire for details.
Independent Scholars: $50/day for scholars conducting independent research (i.e., not for profit); monthly and annual fees are available. Users can apply for the fee to be waived.
UVic Students: Undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students registered full-time at the University of Victoria may access these collections for free.
- Students must provide a letter from their supervisor or course instructor indicating sufficient training in the use of osteological or zooarchaeological materials.
Non-UVic Students, postdoctoral and underemployed scholars: $25/day; monthly and annual fees are available. Users can apply for the fee to be waived.
- Students must provide a letter from their supervisor or course instructor indicating sufficient training in the use of osteological or zooarchaeological materials.”
Notes:
Fee structure came into effect on April 1, 2019, and may be revised at a future date. Fee includes access to the zooarchaeological collection, one desk during working hours, and limited storage while not working on collection.
Desk(s) must be booked in advance with the ANTH office anthao@uvic.ca and zooarchlab@uvic.ca
Payments are accepted in the main office as cheque or cash. Cheques are to be made out to University of Victoria – Anthropology.
Questions may be addressed to Dr. Iain McKechnie, Lab Director zooarchlab@uvic.ca
Updated: May 29, 2024
Fees go directly to lab upkeep, collections and information management and development, and graduate student support via the Grad Student Professional Development account.
*Holding Adjunct status in the department does not exempt researchers from paying bench fees while accessing the lab for commercial/consulting business.
Teaching labs
Our department has two teaching labs - COR B235 & B250.
One lab holds the primate, fossil hominin and stone tool teaching collections. This lab supports both undergraduate and graduate learning in the areas of archaeology (ANTH 240) and biological anthropology (ANTH 250).
The second lab holds the zooarchaeology and human skeletal teaching collections. This lab supports both undergraduate and graduate learning in the areas of zooarchaeology (ANTH 360) and human osteology (ANTH 352).
Visual labs
Our visual media labs in combination with our visual anthropology course offerings make UVic a premier institution for the study of visual culture and the production of research-based media and art.
The labs are dynamic and creative environments where students and faculty work on individual as well as collaborative visual and arts-based research. It has two fully equipped spaces to support traditional and creative research by both students and faculty.
The AIR lab (COR B237A) provides an innovative space to explore, research and experiment with photography, video and sound recordings. Students and faculty members can use the facility and equipment to record, edit and produce videos, films and soundscapes.
The lab supports undergraduate and graduate learning in the areas of visual anthropology, sound (ANTH 303) and applied ethnographic film (ANTH 409).
It is equipped with Mac computer work stations, video data projector for film screening, as well as individual and group work spaces for project production. Video cameras are available for student and faculty use through this lab.
Contact Dr. Andrea Walsh or Dr. Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier if you have any questions about the lab.
The visual stories lab supports the work of graduate students, faculty and post docs who produce visual media as part of their research or conduct research on existing art and media.
This lab is equipped with Mac computers for new media and editing, scanning equipment, video and sound recording units, a soundproof room for audio work, large surfaces for analyzing 2-D imagery and flat storage for large pieces of work.
Project work space in the visual research lab is available on a rotating basis for faculty and students and post docs engaged in visual research and media production.