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The Department of Archaeology has eight, multi-functional laboratory facilities for research in the archaeological sciences with a strong focus on the identification of diagnostic biomolecules and bulk and compound specific isotope analysis. Our research examines the organic and inorganic components of a range of materials including bone, teeth, dental calculus, ceramics, charred and uncharred plant remains, coprolites, residues, and sediments. Our laboratories possess state-of-the-art equipment and are already amongst the leading laboratories globally for biomolecular and environmental archaeology.

In this video, we showcase these facilities, our instrumentation, and some of the archaeological questions we can answer. Our instruments include multiple gas chromatographs and mass spectrometers, a dedicated ZooMS facility for identifying the morphological and biomolecular information from osteological remains, light, digital, and scanning electron microscopes for micro- and macrobotanical analyses, liquid chromatography for detecting secondary metabolites in dental calculus and archaeological artifacts, bench space for artifact photography and 3D scanning, and more!

Please visit our Facilities page on our Department website for more information.

Bob Patalano

Bob is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Palaeoenvironmental Biomarkers in the Department of Archaeology.