A Summer in the Arc Lab - Why it can be nice to work for yourself and others

By: Camila Grases ‘21

In the summer of 2017, someone on the third floor of The Ahmanson Center (ACB) pulled a chemical wash shower and left the building. As the building began to flood, many began to realize that USC’s priceless collection of artifacts contained in the Archeology Lab on the third floor of ACB was in danger. These artifacts, mostly ceramics, are highly sensitive to even the slightest change in humidity, let alone the gallons of water pouring out of the shower. This flood was threatening thousands of years of priceless objects. An emergency evacuation took place and the collection was moved to an external storage site for nearly two years. Finally, in March of 2019, the collection was returned home.