Analytical Chemistry in Archaeology

Mark Pollard is Emeritus Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Ruth Ann Armitage is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at Eastern Michigan University. Her research utilizes analytical methods to learn more about the age and composition of archaeological materials, including textiles, rock paintings, and organic residues. Catherine Batt is Reader in Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford, United Kingdom.  Her research focuses on magnetic analysis and dating. Brandi L. MacDonald is Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator at the Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Missouri Research Reactor. She specializes in multi-method approaches to lithic and ceramic artifact provenance and materials characterization of pigments and rock art. Benjamin Stern is Assistant Professor of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His research and teaching falls at the interfaces between analytical chemistry, archaeology and forensics. Suzanne Young is Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where she was awarded the Provost's Teaching Excellence Award.

• Part I. The Role of Analytical Chemistry in Archaeology: 1. Archaeology and analytical chemistry; 2. An introduction to analytical chemistry; Part II. The Application of Analytical Chemistry to Archaeology: 3. Older analytical techniques and legacy data; 4. Molecular analysis by absorption, fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy; 5. X-ray techniques and electron beam microanalysis; 6. Introduction to mass spectrometry: isotopic analysis; 7. Inductively coupled plasma-spectrometry (ICP-AES and ICP-MS); 8. Molecular mass spectrometry; 9. Chromatography; Part III. Some Basic Chemistry for Archaeologists: 10. Atoms, isotopes, electron orbitals and the periodic table; 11. Valency, bonding and molecules; 12. The electromagnetic spectrum; 13. practical issues in analytical chemistry; Epilogue; Appendices.

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