Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art
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The Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA) is a
laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physi ...
at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
which develops and applies scientific methods to the study of the past. It was established in 1955 and its first director was Teddy Hall.RLAHA page on the Oxford University School of Archaeology website
/ref> The first deputy director was Dr Stuart Young, who was followed by
Martin Aitken Martin Jim Aitken FRS (11 March 1922 – 13 June 2017) was a British archaeometrist. Aitken was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and studied physics at Wadham College, Oxford. He was a fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. He was Professor of Arch ...
in 1957. After many years of de-facto association with the Institute of Archaeology, in 2000 it was jointly brought under the single departmental umbrella of
School of Archaeology The School of Archaeology is an academic department of the University of Oxford comprising the Institute of Archaeology and the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), and is part of Oxford's Social Sciences Division. ...
. The laboratory includes the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), which carries out
radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...
using an accelerator mass spectrometer. The Laboratory publishes the journal '' Archaeometry'', and hosts a chair named for its first director, Edward Hall Professorship in Archaeological Science, and a seminar series named for Martin Aitkin. The Laboratory is currently directed by Professor Mark Pollard.


Areas of Research, Past and Present

*
Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...
*
Luminescence dating Luminescence dating refers to a group of methods of determining how long ago mineral grains were last exposed to sunlight or sufficient heating. It is useful to geologists and archaeologists who want to know when such an event occurred. It uses var ...
* Materials analysis * Palaeodiet * Archaeological geophysics * Uranium-series dating *
Diagenesis Diagenesis () is the process that describes physical and chemical changes in sediments first caused by water-rock interactions, microbial activity, and compaction after their deposition. Increased pressure and temperature only start to play a ...
* Tephrachronology


History of Directorship

* Teddy Hall, 1955-1989. * Mike Tite, 1989-2004. * Mark Pollard, 2004-2014. * Christopher Bronk Ramsey 2014-2019. * Mark Pollard, 2019–Present.


Edward Hall Professorship in Archaeological Science

In 1989, when Teddy Hall retired, the laboratory was placed in jeopardy. In order for the University to agree to the funding of the Deputy Directorship in 1955, Hall, who was independently wealthy, forfeited his own salary. Knowing that his replacement would require funding, he launched an appeal and raised a million pound endowment for a Chair, the now eponymous Edward Hall Professorship in Archaeological Science. The first to take this chair was a previous student of Martin Aikten's, Mike Tite, who also worked with the pair on dating the Turin Shroud. Tite was Edward Hall Professor from 1989, until his retirement in 2004. He was replaced by Mark Pollard, who remains in post.


See also

*
Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...
*
History of Art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics, ae ...
* School of Archaeology, Oxford


References


External links


Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art website

Archaeometry journal website
1955 establishments in England Archaeological research institutes Archaeology of the United Kingdom Departments of the University of Oxford Educational institutions established in 1955 Research institutes established in 1955 Research institutes in Oxford University and college laboratories in the United Kingdom {{UK-university-stub