Archaeometry laboratory

The goal of the archaeometry laboratory is to use modern analytical methods to interrogate artifacts (archaeological or art historical) to learn about the past. The most widely used analytical method is X-ray induced X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The Archaeometry Laboratory has an XRF system that allows analysis of artifacts in air, using a radioactive exciter source as shown below. This system is designed to be used easily (and safely) by students in the social science or humanities. Some materials can benefit from additional analytical methods, such as Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) which is available using the Accelerator.

Some recent studies conducted using the Archaeometry Laboratory are listed briefly below.

1. A New Approach to Dating the League of the Iroquois, Robert D. Kuhn and Martha L. Semposki, American Antiquity, 66(2001)301-314.
2. Lithic Procurement and the Ceramic Period of Occupation of the Interior or the Maritime Peninsula, Adrian Burke, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, 2000.
3. X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Bronzes from the Harvard Semitic Museum, Thomas Hickmott, internal report (2000).

Those with a possible interest in using the facilities in the Archaeometry Laboratory should contact William A. Lanford (lanford@albany.edu).