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Faculty of Arts
UNB Fredericton

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Anthropology

The George Frederick Clarke Archaeological Teaching Laboratory

The teaching lab consists of three rooms:

  • room 3 functions as a combination teaching and display area
  • a second room serves as a lab office and records storage area
  • a third room serves as a collections storage and preparation room

In room 3, students are introduced to the technical aspects of archaeological analysis. In this room, students and members of the public are able to view specimens from archaeological teaching collections. Some artifacts from Dr. Clarke’s collection are on display in this area, as well as posters that archaeology students have presented at conferences.

The teaching laboratory houses a variety of recording and analytical equipment and also contains a series of comparative collections. These include:

  • casts of artifacts (from 2 million years ago to recent times)
  • animal bones for zooarchaeological teaching and research
  • samples of tool-stones commonly used by aboriginal people in the Maritimes area

Archaeological teaching facilities at UNB have developed gradually over the past quarter century. A major refurbishment of the teaching space was undertaken in 2009−10, including new furniture and storage units. The lab was renamed for Dr. George Frederick Clarke in 2011, in commemoration of the Clarke family’s donation of Dr. Clarke’s artifact collection to UNB.

The George Frederick Clarke Artifact Collection

Sue Blair and Gabriel Hrynick

Dr. George Frederick Clarke (1883–1974) of Woodstock, New Brunswick, dentist, author and avocational archaeologist and historian, accumulated a collection of about 2700 archaeological artifacts, most from west-central N.B.

In 1968, Dr. Clarke was awarded an honorary doctorate by UNB, in recognition of his contributions to the province’s archaeology and history. In 2007, the Clarke family donated his archaeological collection to UNB. The Department of Anthropology is curating Dr. Clarke’s collection with the objective of developing its research, teaching and public outreach potentials. This page documents steps toward achieving these goals.