Where is the Archaeology Centre?
Archaeology is among the most collaborative and interdisciplinary fields. Researchers with diverse expertise work together on projects and implement new scientific approaches — from genetics and geographic information science to computer science and physics — to provide environmental and cultural time frames to topics such as climate change, gender studies, innovation and invention from the Pleistocene period to the modern era. U of T has a long and rich history of archaeological discovery: in 1927, Davidson Black discovered Peking Man (Homo erectus pekinensis); in the mid-1970s, Joseph and Maria Shaw’s excavation and preservation of Kommos revealed a Bronze Age Minoan port city in southern Crete; and in the early 1980s, Derek York developed a technique for argon-dating rocks as small as a grain of sand.
In 2005, the University of Toronto launched the Archaeology Centre. Today, it is Canada’s preeminent archaeology centre and one of the top 10 worldwide. The Centre brings together archaeologists from across the University, the Royal Ontario Museum, and Associates across the world to share resources, create an intellectual community and develop opportunities for collaboration and enhanced student training opportunities.
Our archaeologists, historians and material culture specialists — from Anthropology, Art, Classics, Earth Sciences, Geography, Jewish Studies, Medieval Studies, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations and the Royal Ontario Museum — are engaged in ground breaking research on the early stages of human evolution, the origins of agriculture, early state formation and the historical civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Classical World, South America and South Asia. Their research takes them from British Columbia, Nunavut and Ontario to the distant countries of Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa and Turkey.
Our researchers’ international reputations and longstanding commitment to engaging indigenous communities have opened doors to some of the most important and sensitive archaeological sites in the world. U of T faculty are partnering with top universities, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Boston University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Our graduate and undergraduate students participate in Canadian and international field schools, where they gain unprecedented non-restrictive access to ancient material cultures.
