The Archaeology Teaching Lab
This classroom is equipped with state-of-the-art audio visual aids to facilitate teaching and student presentations, as well as all the necessary equipment required for analytical procedures in archaeology. This lab is furnished with display cases that demonstrate the archaeological process and highlight artifacts from the department's archaeological research collections.
The Shelley R. Saunders Biological Anthropology Teaching Lab
The Shelley R. Saunders Biological Anthropology Teaching Lab, located in Chester New Hall, houses the department's comprehensive teaching collection with an emphasis on human skeletal biology, paleopathology and human evolution. The courses and research projects represent a biocultural approach to understanding the human condition. Teaching themes examine the study of human diversity, biological history and human evolution, and the biocultural factors that have shaped human biology and population both in the present and the past.
The Archaeology Library Collection
The Department Archaeology Library Collection Catalogue.
Centre for Integrated Bioarchaeological Research in Health, Diet, Disease & Migration
The Laboratory for Integrated Bioarchaeological Research in Health, Diet, Disease, and Migration (Bioarch-HDDM) is a world-leading facility, enabling innovative research on life in the past.
Fisheries Archaeology Research Centre (FARC)
The Fisheries Archaeology Research Centre supports research into long-term trends in fisheries production resulting from environmental change and human exploitation of fish and shellfish populations. The work helps to address current concerns with global climate and environmental change and the effects of over-fishing in many different parts of the world.
Lab for Interdisciplinary Research on Archaeological Ceramics (LIRAC)
The Lab for Interdisciplinary Research on Archaeological Ceramics was founded by Dr. Kostalena Michelaki in 2004, and is currently directed by Dr. Andy Roddick.
McMaster Ancient DNA Centre
The McMaster Ancient DNA Centre approaches a wide range of evolutionary and molecular biological questions using DNA and proteins from archaeological, paleontological, and forensic remains. We use state-of-the-art techniques to extract and sequence these molecules, discerning origins and population histories of a wide range of species, both extinct and extant. This allows us to follow evolution in action, directly testing models based on modern theory and observation.
McMaster Archaeological XRF Lab (MAX Lab)
At the MAX Lab all artefacts are analyzed whole and non-destructively on the Thermo Scientific ARL Quant’X energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometer, each piece having first been cleaned in an ultrasonic tank with distilled water for ten minutes. In attempting to provenance an artefact’s raw material, we compare its chemical signature with those of source samples run by the MAX Lab under the same conditions. At present the lab has a large range of geological samples from obsidian sources across the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesoamerica, plus smaller quantities from the Western Mediterranean, Trans-Caucasia, Japan, Peru and the US.
McMaster Paleoethnobotany Research Facility (MPERF)
The McMaster Paleoethnobotany Research Facility (MPERF) has been designed for research and training purposes. These facilities are available for extractions, identifications, and analyses of botanical residues from Mesoamerica and Ontario.
Sustainable Archaeology at McMaster Innovation Park
Sustainable Archaeology is a joint project between McMaster University and the University of Western Ontario (UWO), supported by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. This 9.8 million-dollar initiative to physically and digitally consolidate Ontario archaeological collections facilitates current and future use by any and all interested researchers.
The McMaster facility focuses on materials analysis, including petrographic, biogeochemical, zooarchaeological and geoarchaeological studies. The focus of the UWO facility is on 3D digitization and virtual environments. Combined, the facilities provide cutting-edge laboratories and equipment, accessible research collections and a database of digital data and macroscopic and microscopic imagery of archaeological materials.
Sensory Ethnography Research Lab at McMaster Innovation Park
More Information coming soon!