Archaeological chemistry

This includes a dedicated organic chemistry lab for sample processing, extraction and derivatization of compounds prior to instrument analysis.

Our instruments are housed across three laboratories and include:

• Gas Chromatograph-Flame Ionisation Detector (GC-FID) 
• Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS)
• Agilent 7890A GC/FID/MSD
• Perkin Elmer Clarus 690 GC coupled to a SQ8-T Mass Spectrometer
• Agilent 7890B GC coupled to an Agilent 5975C MSD and via a combustion unit (Isoprime GC5) to an Isoprime 100 IRMS
• Two Thermo Delta plus, each coupled to a Thermo Trace 1310 GC for Amino Acid and compound specific isotope analysis
• FTIR (Bruker Alpha) with ATR attachment (Bruker platinum) for quick and minimally destructive structural analysis of archaeological specimens including bone, seeds and shell

Additional facilities for archaeological chemistry including access to high resolution mass spectrometry are available at the Centre of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry.