Archaeological Chemistry
Archaeological Chemistry

Author: Martin Levey

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2016-11-11

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1512803901

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Papers in English, French, and German. Sponsored by the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. Includes bibliographical references. This collection of studies in archeological chemistry is the most important ever devoted to this field. In these pages its difficult experimental problems are treated by an impressive group of experts from all over the globe. Nearly all archeological chemistry's investigative methods are described: infrared spectra, emission spectroscopy, chemical analysis, X-ray fluorescent spectroscopy, petrographic examination, probing by electronic sound and micrography, C 14 dating, and others. These papers were first presented at the Third Symposium on Archeological Chemistry in September 1962 under the auspices of the American Chemical Society. The symposium was to bring together the knowledge and techniques so that more and better investigation might be encouraged and receive the proper recognition. The studies in this book possess not only great qualitative interest in their own areas but have a collective value in their portrayal of the state of affairs in the chemistry of ancient artifacts.

Archaeological Chemistry VIII
Archaeological Chemistry VIII

Author: Ruth Ann Armitage

Publisher: ACS Symposium

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780841229242

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The 12th Archaeological Chemistry Symposium was held as part of the Spring ACS National Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 7-11, 2013. This volume is a compilation of presentations from the Symposium, the latest in a long tradition that began at the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia in 1950. The papers herein show that archaeological chemistry today is more than the usual studies of trace elements in pottery and lithics, which continue to contribute to our understanding of human behavior in the past. New areas of research include more focus on portability to analyze pigments in situ and artifacts in museums, nascent developments in non- and minimally destructive chemical characterization, new applications of isotopic analyses, and an increasing interest in archaeological biomolecules. This volume is divided into sections that roughly follow those of the Symposium: Pigments, Residues and Material Analysis, X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy, and Isotopes in Archaeology. The first section, Pigments and Dyes, begins with a review of manuscript pigments by Dr. Mary Virginia Orna, the organizer of the 9th Archaeological Chemistry Symposium and Editor of Archaeological Chemistry: Organic, Inorganic, and Biochemical Analysis (2). Each of the following sections begins with a review paper from one of the invited speakers. Dr. Valerie Steele, now at the University of Bradford in the Department of Archaeological Science, provides an overview of the state - for better and for worse - of analyses of archaeological residues. Portable X-ray fluorescence instruments are becoming extremely common in archaeological chemistry investigations; Dr. Aaron Shugar of Buffalo State University provides in his chapter some perspectives and warnings against the indiscriminate use of this technology. Finally, Dr. Matthew Sponheimer gives an overview of the contributions of stable carbon isotope and trace metal studies in understanding early hominin diets. The final chapter of the book provides a perspective on the earliest work in archaeological chemistry in the 18th century and brings us up to today's challenges