Antonio J. Waring, Jr. Center for Public Archaeology

Since the early 1970s, we have served a variety of constituents and have grown into one of the region’s premier archaeological repositories. Primarily a research facility, the lab is dedicated to the scholarly pursuit of knowledge of past cultures in Georgia and the greater Southeast region. Our facility accommodates visiting researchers from across the United States with research space and specialized equipment for artifact analyses. Thousands of prehistoric and historic archaeological collections are held-in-trust within our secured cool-storage environment, which includes a high-security special collections space. The curation standards for our holdings meets or exceeds federal guidelines and requirements (e.g., 36CFR79). Education and interpretation services are also provided by the Waring lab. Our education outreach program offers traveling teaching trunks to Georgia schools and community organizations. We also facilitates on-site tours, education programming, and mock excavations for visiting school groups. We have also started the development of interpretive projects for clients; these may include traveling exhibits and digital (online) projects. A variety of unique opportunities are made available to student-employees and volunteers as well. Those who complete our training program become familiar with handling and identifying artifacts, as well as the various stages involved in curating archaeological collections. Students can also take advantage of participating in the lab’s education and public outreach program, researching in the lab's library, and participating in archaeological and exhibit development projects. For more information visit us online at waring.westga.edu.