Borden System

[1] Canada is one of a few countries that use a national system to identify archaeological sites.

[2] It was created by Charles Edward Borden in 1952 at the University of British Columbia.

[1] The system divides Canada into a grid of blocks based on latitude and longitude.

[2] AaBb-11:1234 A is the Major South-North Locator - Each block represents 2 degrees of Latitude from south to north (A - U) a is the Minor South-North Locator - Each block represents 10 minutes of Latitude from south to north (a - l) B is the Major East-West Locator - Each block represents 4 degrees of Longitude from east to west (A - W) (north of 62 degrees each major block represents 8 degrees of longitude) b is the Minor East-West Locator - Each block represents 10 minutes of Longitude from east to west (a - x) (north of 62 degrees each minor block represents 20 minutes of longitude) Therefore, a full designation: AaBb-16 represents a roughly 16 km x 16 km area and the 16th site found within that area.

Borden numbers have only been applied to archaeological sites that have been encountered and recorded, and are subject to survey and testing bias, as well as the rates of development in some areas.