Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology

Laboratory for Circumpolar Studies

Archaeological Research Facility for the Circumpolar North.

The Laboratory for Circumpolar Studies (LCS) is an interdisciplinary research facility focused around projects and archaeological collections from many locations in the circumpolar north, including the United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada, Iceland, and Denmark. 

The LCS also serves as a repository for archaeological collections made on federal lands in Northwest Alaska. Two of these sites, Onion Portage and Cape Krusenstern are among the most complete series of archaeological materials from the interior and coastal regions of the North American Arctic, respectively. The collections span ca. 13,000 years of life in Northwest Alaska, and represent the rich heritage of Indigenous Alaskans. These site complexes are in the traditional territories of the Inupiat, who have lived in those lands for time immemorial. 

As a steward of this collection, the LCS seeks to be an enthusiastic partner with the Inupiat, the National Park Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Brown University, researchers and interested people from other institutions. Anyone is welcome to utilize the federal collections for their own research.

 

Recent News

This edition of Contexts is the first online version of the annual report of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology. We have shifted to a digital format to provide greater access to our activities and programs and to allow for new ways of presenting what we do. We did not publish a report in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This issue covers 2020, 2021 and part of 2022.