Doing Chemistry at the Art/Archaeology Interface: 1996 Norris Award Address

Orna, Mary Virginia

doi:10.1021/ed074p373

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Once thought to be an unlikely combination, a considerable body of literature on the interface and the areas in common of these two disciplines has developed over the past century (13). However, Florence anticipated the present age: the "city of art" has always had a "scientific mind.…”

Section: What Can Be Learned From the Scientific History Of Florence?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific Florence

Fontani

2014

ACS Symposium Series

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Section: What Can Be Learned From the Scientific History Of Florence?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific Florence

Fontani

2014

ACS Symposium Series

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“…Archaeology’s goal to reconstruct humanity’s past by analyzing material remains requires an interdisciplinary approach that can obtain the maximum amount of information from each unique and irreplaceable artifact. Since the end of the 18th century, chemistry has provided archaeologists a spectrum of chemical and instrumental methods to answer questions about composition, chronology, and authenticity while also contributing to the conservation of artifacts. , Chemistry’s significant contributions to archaeology have been noted in this Journal ,− and other chemistry journals. − Recognition of chemistry’s power to inform archaeological research led to the development of the specialized field of archaeological chemistry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lipid Residue Analysis of Archaeological Pottery: An Introductory Laboratory Experiment in Archaeological Chemistry

2017

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In this research-based experiment, students are introduced to the interdisciplinary field of archaeological chemistry by extracting and analyzing lipid residues absorbed in pottery. Reproduction archaeological pottery sherds are prepared by soaking ceramic fragments in individual or combinations of vegetable oils. Students crush and extract the absorbed residues, transesterify the recovered lipids to fatty acid methyl esters, and analyze the product by GC or GC/MS. Recovered residues are characterized by analysis of the major fatty acid peaks, as identified using reference standards or mass spectral databases. An archaeological context that links the sherds to the Minoan civilization is provided to students and must be considered to correctly identify the absorbed residue(s). The laboratory has been used in a topical archaeological instrumentation course that has attracted second to fourth year students majoring in chemistry, biochemistry, and anthropology, and museum studies minors. Pedagogically, the laboratory introduces students to techniques currently used in the field of archaeological chemistry while reinforcing fundamental concepts in sample isolation and preparation, derivatization, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and multicomponent sample analysis.

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“…Chemistry at the interface of history, art, and archaeology is an interesting meld of disciplines that can help to solve old questions about archaeological articrafts and art works. Effective work in this area demands increasingly sophisticated equipment, increased knowledge of statistical software packages, increased interaction with members of related disciplines, and awareness of the literature of archaeometry, archaeology, and anthropology (18). The synthesis of Prussian blue and the conversion of raw umber to burnt umber (via loss of water of hydration) provides the basis for discussing topics like molecular formulas, molecular weight, and stoichiometry (19).…”

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confidence: 99%