The Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA) is a laboratory at the University of Oxford, England which develops and applies scientific methods to the study of the past. It was established in 1955 and its first director was Teddy Hall.[1] The first deputy director was Dr Stuart Young, who was followed by Martin Aitken in 1957.[1] After many years of de facto association with the Institute of Archaeology, in 2000 it was jointly brought under the single departmental umbrella of School of Archaeology.
The laboratory includes the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), which carries out radiocarbon dating using an accelerator mass spectrometer.[2] The Laboratory publishes the journal Archaeometry, and hosts a chair named for its first director, Edward Hall Professorship in Archaeological Science, and a seminar series named for Martin Aitkin.
The Laboratory is currently directed by Professor Mark Pollard.