Archaeological Science Collections

One of the Department of Anthropology’s major research initiatives is to provide resources for the geochemical characterization of archaeological materials from its holdings and field research.  The museum's Elemental Analysis Facility (EAF) contains instrumentation capable of rapidly establishing the chemical and mineralogical composition of archaeological materials.  As part of their field research programs, Field Museum scientists conduct regional surveys of raw materials potentially used by prehistoric craft workers which form the basis of our growing geoarchaeological collections.  These collections currently include ceramic raw materials from Papua New Guinea and the Andes, Basalts and other volcanic rocks from the Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru, and obsidian from sources in the western United States.