​​​​Our histology lab (229) is located in the Banks Building on the ANU campus (44 Linnaeus Way). I supply hard tissue processing training, protocols, and expertise. Support is provided by our technician David McGregor.
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Lab equipment, funded in most part by ANU internal grants (e.g. 2018 Major Equipment Grant $135,000) and the Australian Research Council, includes: two Olympus BX53 with DP74 camera microscopes (one with a rotating stage), one Olympus BX50 with a Lumenera’s INFINITY1-2 2.0 megapixel CMOS digital camera microscope, one Buehler EcoMet 300/AutoMet 300 Pro Touchscreen grinder-polisher
one confocal microscope Olympus OLS5000, two Kemet MICRACUT Precision Cutters (one in delivery). We also have two fume hoods.
We now have a collection, or a "library", of thin sections that is growing day by day. It mainly includes human bone and tooth samples from ancient and modern contexts, but we also have some other vertebrates represented (e.g. rat, kangaroo, wombat, crocodile). Our specimens span thousands (and in some fossil cases millions!) of years and cover multiple different parts of the world, with a focus on Asia Pacific. ​The collection receives funding from the Australian Research Council. It has been possible to set up and study thanks to my wonderful international and domestic collaborators, who share/ donate samples for research, and constructively assist with analyses, including:
  • A/Prof Bui Van Liem - Vietnam Institute of Archaeology, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • Dr Faridah Nor - Department of Pathology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Malaysia
  • Dr Nawaporn Techataweewan - Department of Anatomy, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
  • Dr Patrick Mahoney - School of Anthropology & Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
  • Prof Geoff Clark, Prof Sue O'Connor - Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU, Australia
  • Dr Rachel Li - The John Curtin Medical School of Research, ANU, Australia
  • Dr Rita Hardiman - Dental & Medical School, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • ​A/Prof Julien Louys - Australian Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia
  • Prof Marshall Weisler - School of Archaeology, University of Queensland, Australia
  • Dr Gilbert Price - School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
  • Dr Frederique Valentin - French National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris, France
  • Dr Rebecca Kinaston, Prof Hallie Buckley, A/Prof Siân Halcrow - Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, New Zealand
  • ​Dr Arkadiusz Soltysiak, Dr Rafal Fetner - Department of Bioarchaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland
  • Dr Alexandra van der Geer - Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands
  • Prof Philip Piper - Archaeology, School of Archaeology & Anthropology, ANU, Australia
  • ​Dr Georgia Roberts - Archaeology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
  • Dr Eline Schotsmans - Archaeology, University of Wollongong, Australia
NB. All work on human remains undertaken in the lab is justified by a rigorous and well planned/ thought out study design so as to avoid the destruction of often irreplaceable archaeological samples. We adhere to discipline standards and guidelines that relate to lab processing of human skeletal remains from archaeological contexts. Where necessary, projects are also reviewed by relevant ethics boards.