Lab Resources
The Laboratory for Sedimentary Archaeology at the Dept. of Maritime Civilizations (Charney School of Marine Sciences), University of Haifa, has a variety of basic research resources. It includes a wet lab with a fume hood, distilled water column, centrifuges, pH-EC meter, drying and furnace ovens, and coarse and analytical balances. The dry lab includes an FTIR spectrometer and microscope, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), high power stereoscope, and three petrographic microscopes. Bench space for artifact and sample analysis, as well as desks for the lab manager and students/researchers are available as well. A total station and a dry-wet camera are jointly owned by the Sedimentary Archaeology and the Coastal and Underwater laboratories.
Types of analyses carried out:
Infrared spectroscopy:
This technique enables to identify organic and inorganic materials and to study their states of preservation. It is routinely utilized for understanding microstratigraphy and site structure. It also allows determining whether or not certain materials have been exposed to high temperatures.
See more in Weiner's 2010 Chapter 12.
Phytolith analysis:
Phytoliths are microscopic silica bodies formed in living plants. Our laboratory studies the absolute concentrations of phytoliths, their state of preservation and their anatomical origin. These data allow addressing questions about the origin of plant material in archaeological sites, the site’s past economy and the inhabitants’ use of space.
See rapid extraction procedure in Katz et al. 2010.
Wood ash analysis:
Wood ash is composed of microscopic calcite crystals. Its quantitative analysis allows determining the presence/absence of fire on site, use of space, and types of fuel used by past inhabitants and thus human-environment relationships.
See on formation of wood ash in Shahack-Gross and Ayalon 2013.
Dung spherulite analysis:
Dung spherulites are microscopic carbonaceous bodies that are formed in the intestines of herbivores, mostly ruminants, and are excreted with their dung. Presence of dung spherulites is useful for determining corralling of animals and thus subsistence economy (pastoralism) and site structure.
See review on herbivore dung in Shahack-Gross 2011 as well as a new method in Dunseth and Shahack-Gross 2019.
Quantification of dung spherulites together with quantification of wood ash crystals and plant phytoliths allows accurate reconstruction of ancient fuel types.
See procedure in Gur-Arieh et al. 2013.
Micromorphology :
Like histology, where intact biological tissues are studied in thin section, micromorphology is the study of intact soils and sediments in thin section. This technique enables direct observation and identification of materials that comprise archaeological sediments, the spatial relationships between different sediment layers, and the post-depositional changes to the sediments under study.
See more in Friesem et al. 2014.
FTIR microscope:
For the high-resolution study of archaeological materials, including thin sections.
Scanning Electron Microscope :
BSE imaging coupled with EDS spectrometry for the high-resolution study of archaeological materials
