Support for the Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR

University Of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation (NSF) support, the Archaeometry Laboratory at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) is a world leader in compositional analysis of archaeological materials like ceramics, chert, obsidian, and metals. Such chemical analyses are essential pieces of evidence used by archaeologists to investigate the technology, economics, social and political organization, identity, and religious practices in ancient societies. Understanding past human behavior can inform modern efforts to address issues such as population movement, resource exploitation, group interaction, and internal group social stress. The long-term success of the Archaeometry Laboratory has resulted in an unparalleled database of artifact and raw material chemical compositions that greatly enhance the explanatory power of future analytical studies as well as provide the raw material for large-scale research projects using existing data. The laboratory is able to support a wide variety of projects and numerous students, researchers, and visiting scholars every year, and contributes to knowledge diffusion through close scientific collaborations between MURR staff and outside researchers, student education, and professional publications. The MURR Archaeometry Laboratory focuses on elemental and isotopic analysis in order to examine the production, exchange, and movement of a broad variety of artifacts including ceramics, lithics, and metals, using neutron activation analysis (NAA), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) including a laser ablation system and a multi-collector. The laboratory also supports geochemical research on the petrogenesis of various igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. Broader impacts of the Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR include: (1) availability of affordable chemical and isotopic analyses for students and faculty from academic departments in the US; (2) training of undergraduate and graduate students in the selection and use of laboratory methods of analysis; (3) advice in project design, statistical analysis, and interpretation of the chemical and isotopic data; and (4) public access by archaeologists, geologists, and scientists from many disciplines to the compositional database.