About the Archaeology Centre
The Archaeology Centre is a community that brings archaeologists and people interested in archaeology together across the University of Toronto and beyond. We aim to provide a centralized hub of information about opportunities (e.g., field schools, scholarships, etc.) and events (e.g., lectures, interest groups, symposia, etc.) related to archaeology. We are not an academic unit at the university and do not offer courses for credit or degree programs. Please do not email the Archaeology Centre with questions about degree requirements. If you are interested in academically pursuing archaeology at the University of Toronto, please see the following departments for more information and contacts, as well as UofT’s Mediterranean Archaeology Collaborative Specialization (MACS):
- Department of Anthropology
- Department of Art History
- Department of Classics
- Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
- Department of Earth Sciences
Regular Interest Groups
The Faunal Interest Group
The group has convened by-weekly (times TBA; in the Archaeology Centre boardroom AP140 at 19 Ursula Franklin Street) since September 2007. The group discusses new and old issues of zoo archaeological method and theory. For more information, please contact Moses Akogun at moses.akogun@mail.utoronto.ca.
Next meeting: TBD
The Collections Interest Group
Join the Collections Interest Group and discuss a wide array of topics regarding the care, preservation, and public education of artifacts and histories in a collections setting. Whether you are interested in a career in the museum world, plan on interacting with collections in some capacity, or simply find an interest in the curation and preservation of histories, this group is for you. Topics of discussion look to explore the relationship between ‘the institution’ which houses objects and the communities which interact with its stories, the role of ever-evolving technology in a collections/museum setting, and sustainable collections management that serves present, past, and future generations. Interested? Please contact Savanna for more information (s.buehlmanbarbeau@mail.utoronto.ca).
Next meeting: COLLECTIONS INTEREST GROUP PRESENTS: Logan Warner’s Material Traces of the Past and Subway Station as Place in Toronto.
On February 26, please join us for a guided roundtable session with UofT Anthropology’s Logan Warner (MA) in discussion of his MRP which navigates theories of heritage, material culture, landscape, and palimpsest in relation to Toronto’s very own public transit system. By combining methods of archival collections research and critical observational fieldwork, Warner situates Toronto transit into landscapes of memory and history, and ultimately sets a spotlight upon the power of heritage studies.
All are welcome to attend, listen, and participate in this roundtable discussion. If you would like to read Warner’s Material Traces of the Past and Subway Station as Place in Toronto before the roundtable session, please request a copy via email (s.buehlmanbarbeau@mail.utoronto.ca).
NEW – Archaeobotany & Environmental Archaeology Interest Group
Archaeobotany & Environmental Archaeology Interest Group
Are you interested in how people in the past engaged with plants, landscapes, and climate? Join the new Archaeobotany & Environmental Archaeology Interest Group at U of T!
This graduate-led group provides a space for discussion, collaboration, and curiosity-driven exploration of the intersections between plants, foodways, people, and environments in the past. We’ll focus on themes such as:
- Human–environment interactions in deep time
- Climate change and resilience in past societies
- Cuisine, diet, and the cultural significance of plants
- Methods and theories in environmental archaeology
Whether your background is in archaeology, anthropology, ecology, history, or related fields, this is a chance to share ideas, workshop projects, and build connections with others who care about reconstructing the lived experiences of past communities through their relationships with plants and landscapes. Come be part of shaping a vibrant intellectual community where we put people back into the past by exploring their environmental choices and legacies. Please email Lachlan Kyle-Robinson (lachlan.kylerobinson@mail.utoronto.ca) with any questions.
Next Meeting: TBD
February Talks
The Archaeological Institute of America and the Archaeology Centre present: “A Human Problem: Modelling Climate, Crops, and Choices in Ancient Southwest Asia,” by Dr. Lynn Welton (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto). Tuesday, February 24th at 6:10 pm in AP130 (19 Ursula Franklin St.).
February Talks
The Archaeology Centre presents: “Looted Expertise: Wak’a Heritage Collectors as Knowledge Producers in Andean Archaeology,”by Dr. Nicholas Brown (A&S postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto). Friday, February 27th 2026 from 4:00 – 6:00 pm in AP140 (19 Ursula Franklin Street). Abstract: “Andean archaeology was established as a field of knowledge through collaborations between Euro-American scholars and Indigenous/Mestizo heritage collectors called “huaquero” who specialize in extracting artifacts from “wak’a” (“huaca”), a Quechua term for powerful parts of the sacred landscape like monuments and mountains. Although wak’a collecting can be traced back to pre-Hispanic religious practices and was considered as a type of mining in colonial Peru, it is now criminalized as the theft of subterranean cultural properties claimed by Andean nation states. While legal frameworks cast wak’a heritage collectors as “looters” plundering the past, museum curators and private collectors who purchase “looted” artifacts are often seen as protectors of patrimony by virtue of their political connections. This presentation rethinks the history of Andean archaeology to view wak’a heritage collectors as knowledge producers whose expertise led academics to “discover” sites like Paracas, Pacatnamu, Puemape, and Chawin Punta. Given the central role of wak’a collectors in shaping international discourses in Anthropology and the History of Art, Andean communities emerge as key intellectual partners in determining the future of global heritage ethics.”
March Talks
The Archaeology Centre presents: “The Power of Monuments in Ruin in Ancient Oaxaca, Mexico,” by Prof. Arthur A. Joyce (Professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder). Friday, March 13th in AP140 from 4:00-6:00 pm. In this presentation, I examine the materiality of two ruined monumental architectural complexes in ancient Oaxaca: The Main Plaza of the mountaintop city of Monte Albán in the Oaxaca Valley and the acropolis of Río Viejo on the coastal floodplain of the Río Verde. Both impressive complexes were important political and ceremonial centers through which urban communities were brought together. Although both fell to ruin, they continued to be places of intensive affect that were central to the constitution and transformation of more-than-human communities. After its abandonment, the Main Plaza, now viewed from afar by the people in the valley below, continued to assemble substances important to human well-being including rain, earth, clouds, sky, ancestors, and the mountain itself. The slow deterioration of the plaza’s durable stone masonry buildings was rarely experienced by people, however. By contrast, the earthen architecture of the acropolis, still located in the center of the city, rapidly eroded and decayed in the tropical lowland climate. I consider how the material vibrancy of these ruins actualized different capacities contributing to the gathering of a new kind of community in one case, and its resistance and eventual dissolution in the other. I make the broader point that even ruined buildings can be powerful in ways that threaten, resist, empower, or transform human projects.
March Talks
The Archaeology Centre presents: “Invisible Potters, Visible Signatures: Tracing Ceramic Production Communities in the Colonial Southeast,”by Lindsay Block (Senior Archaeological Analyst, Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery) and Elizabeth Bollwerk (Archaeologist, International Centre for Jefferson Studies). Wednesday March 18th in AP140 from 5:00 -7:00 pm. Colonoware, a hand-built, low-fired coarse earthenware, appears on archaeological sites occupied from the mid-17th to mid-19th century throughout the southeastern United States. The mysteries of colonoware—who made it and for whom it was made—have sparked ongoing and heated debates. To date, most analyses have focused on localized models of production and use or debates about the ethnicity of manufacturers. What is clear is that colonoware is a deeply contextual material manifestation of related strategies enslaved and free African, African American, and Indigenous communities developed in response to the oppressive and disruptive conditions caused by colonial regimes. Our current research project applies fine grained artifact analyses to thousands of colonoware artifacts from sites across the Southeastern United States to identify regional “recipes” for this pottery type. This approach enhances our understanding of how colonoware producers contributed to, circumvented, and even disrupted traditional European markets.
