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Convocation, Archaeology, Students

Experiential learning and Indigenous collaboration help Archaeology grad succeed

June 12, 2020
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Upon completing high school Kristin Oliver was unsure if she would have the opportunity to attend university.

“I spent a lot of time not going to class; nobody ever thought — including myself — that I would even go to university,” recalls Oliver. Four years later, she is graduating first class with distinction from SFU’s Department of Archaeology.

Oliver’s time at SFU allowed her to build relationships with the university and its surrounding communities. She spent three years working in the interior of British Columbia conducting community-based research on the traditional territory of the Líl’wat Nation. She also served as president of the Archaeology Student Society and worked as a contractor for Arrowstone Archaeological Research and Consulting. 

During the summer of 2018, she completed a semester at Bamfield Marine Science Centre on the traditional territory of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations where she conducted intertidal surveys of clam gardens and subsistence beaches. 

“I’ll take any excuse and opportunity that allows me to conduct archaeological research near or on the water,” says Oliver. 

In 2019, she participated in SFU’s summer field school in Courtenay, B.C. on the traditional territory of the K’ómoks Nation where she took an interest in fish bones, an area she hopes to pursue further in her graduate research.

After a highly involved four years with the Department of Archaeology, Kristin is eager to return to SFU this fall to pursue a Master of Arts in Archaeology.

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