Archaeological chemistry description

Although electron microscopy is approached in this chapter as an analytical technique (a variant of XRF), it is essential to state at the outset that electron microscopy is far more versatile than this. Many standard descriptions of electron microscopy approach the subject from the microscopy end, regarding it as a higher resolution version of optical microscopy. Several texts, such as Goodhew et al. (2001), Reed (1993) and Joy et al. (1986), are devoted to the broad spectrum of analytical electron microscopy, but the emphasis here on the analytical capacity is justified in the context of a book on archaeological chemistry. 

The third section of this chapter, A Brief History of Archaeological Chemistry, is intended to place the field in the context of its past. This history helps to better understand how such studies got to the place they are today and what is important and new in the field. The fourth and final section concerns Laboratories, the home bases of archaeological chemistry and the folks in white lab coats. We provide an impression of what such labs are like and how they are used. Within this section we offer a detailed description of our own home, the Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Let s get started. 

Much significant work in archaeological chemistry has been done in the last 50 years. A multitude of new ideas, instruments, and procedures have been added to the tool chest of what is now called archaeological chemistry. The evolution of both methodology and instrumentation in quantitative chemistry has permitted more detailed descriptions of the composition of a variety of materials - geological,... 

Archaeologists began to use ICP-MS in the early or mid-1990s. In 1996, for instance, a textbook on archaeological chemistry [44] contained a description of quad-rupole mass spectrometers along with a discussion of the potential— unrealized in archaeology as of 1996—of LA-ICP-MS. 

A wide range of other methods from analytical chemistry have been applied to archaeological samples, but space precludes detailed descriptions of them all. Some, such as XPS, have only been employed sporadically because of the specialized nature of the technique. Others are increasing in application as their archaeological potential is explored. One class of methods which has had some application are resonance techniques (e.g., Ewing, 1985 Chapter 13). These are based on another aspect of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic... 

Good description of how nucleic acid chemistry affects the retrieval of DNA in archaeology. 

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