丁香园AV

鈥淚 was always interested in ancient Maya art. From painted ceramics and sculptures to dress and textiles, it鈥檚 beautiful,鈥� says Tremain. 鈥淗owever, these artifacts are worth a lot of money, so they鈥檙e often stolen or looted from archaeological sites and are now largely found in museum collections.鈥�

While this might not be top of mind for many museum visitors, the looting of archaeological sites and stealing of artifacts is a challenge that many archaeologists encounter and a cause for concern for many Indigenous communities.

鈥淎lmost all archaeologists that do active field work have come across looting of some kind. Ultimately, I think it鈥檚 the responsibility of archaeologists to understand the impact that looting and the stealing of artifacts has and how they move through the market,鈥� says Tremain. 鈥淚t's important for us to know what to do in those scenarios, what the immediate impact to the community is, where they have gone and if there is a chance they can be found or retrieved, and if we can still add knowledge to them, even though they鈥檝e been stolen.鈥�

As the role of museums in repatriation evolves and concerns over ownership continue to grow, Tremain explains that it will become increasingly important to understand how museums have developed into the institutions they are today, how artifacts come to be part of their collections and how we can better protect them from ending up there illegally in the future.

鈥淲e鈥檙e grappling with what it means to talk about decolonization with institutions who are themselves inherently colonial, and for the most part are full of stolen goods,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important to talk about repatriation and giving items back, but it鈥檚 also equally important to talk about how we can protect the heritage and archaeological sites that haven鈥檛 been destroyed, stolen or demolished yet.鈥�

Tremain is hopeful that these conversations will appeal to a wide range of students and is excited to expand the department's curriculum to include more courses that explore this side of the discipline.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 relevant to everyone who enjoys history, archaeology and going to museums. We don't want museums to go away, but we want them to fix these problems, and this isn鈥檛 going to happen overnight,鈥� she says.

Finding ways to engage students and the public in topics of heritage, museum collections, and digital archaeology is another area of interest for Tremain. She often uses modern technology like augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D printing to enhance learning experiences and captivate wider audiences.

For example, while teaching at Langara College during the pandemic, Tremain would meet students in curated virtual classrooms relevant to their projects, like joining a student in an underwater classroom in a scuba diving suit to explore underwater archaeology. She would also have students print 3D models of artifacts found in museums around the world, decorate them to resemble the originals and curate displays for the library.

Based on the success of these initiatives, Tremain is excited to apply these novel technologies to her teaching practice at 丁香园AV, and to 丁香园AV鈥檚 on-campus Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

鈥淚 definitely want to keep integrating these technologies with teaching, and hopefully develop some 3D prints of artifacts for the museum that people can touch and interact with,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t also brings up interesting ethical questions and legal conversations because we have to talk about who owns these things, if we need to ask for permission, are there things that aren鈥檛 acceptable or too sensitive to make copies of? Students really find this side of it really interesting as well.鈥�