University of the Philippines

The potential to develop an archaeological science based Ph.D program is both a challenge and a dream of the faculty in the Archaeological Studies Program (ASP) of the University of the Philippines. It requires investing in both human and physical resources which is difficult when funding possibilities are so scarce. The ASP faculty developed a program that will expand their laboratories and train Ph.D students with the necessary skills and research capabilities to make use of them. Over five years the program will secure the equipment and train the students in collaboration with expert colleagues and partner institutions such as the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France as well as scholars from other institutions that can advise on specific techniques and laboratory research. The proposed research facilities will include a Human Osteology lab, a Palaeo-botany and Sediment Sciences lab, a lithics lab, a Zooarchaeology lab and finally a ceramics lab. At the end of the five years of the Institutional Development Grant ASP will have five functional laboratories, manned by capable personnel with PhDs, that will then be used to train successive generations of students working in the Southeast Asian Region.