Laboratory Services
SPAR provides services in a full range of post-excavation archaeological processing and analysis. These services draw on the resources of the world-class facilities of the Otago Archaeology Laboratories (Anthropology Department, University of Otago).
We are able to facilitate specialist services not available here through our professional links with other scientific service providers.
SPAR offers a full processing service for archaeologists. We can take bags of material directly from the field and have it washed, sorted re-bagged and labeled before sending it through for final storage. All specialist analytical services will be provided as required.
The Otago Archaeology Laboratories have a comprehensive reference collection of New Zealand and Pacific vertebrates and invertebrates including extinct species (such as moa). SPAR staff are experts in faunal analysis and will provide detailed identification reports and interpretations of assemblages.
SPAR staff are able to provide standard descriptive and quantitative analyses of most classes of prehistoric or historic material culture recovered from New Zealand or Pacific sites. Specialist analyses are available (see below).
SPAR can provide specialist technical services via the Otago Archaeology Laboratories. The laboratories are fully equipped for microscopy, thin sectioning of stone or ceramics, XRF elemental analysis of stone tools and include an ancient DNA facility (operated as a partnership between the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology). In addition, we can facilitiate all other specialist services that might be required via internal University sources, or through our connections with external research laboratories. These might include, for example, radiometric dating or stable isotope studies etc.