The Contribution of Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscopy (VPSEM) Coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDS) and Raman Spectroscopy (RS) to Anthropologically Oriented Arch

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，考古和文化遗产材料研究实验室（Cotsen考古研究所和加州大学洛杉矶分校材料科学与工程系的合资企业）将获得最先进的变压扫描电子显微镜（VPSEM），再加上能量色散（EDS）和拉曼光谱（RS），以促进综合法医生物人类学和地理考古学的前沿研究。该仪器将纳米尺度的成像和形态观察与无机和有机材料的元素和分子分析相结合，为考古材料的研究提供了一个非常强大的工具，可以回答有关生产方法和反映古代人群社会结构和组织的物质分布的重要问题。VPSEM的环境能力将允许考古文物进行非侵入性分析，而无需修改其结构或化学成分。结构中含有水分的考古材料将在不存在脱水和结构修改风险的情况下进行分析。毫无疑问，该仪器的多功能将为材料表征提供新的视角和新方法，以回答有关材料来源、生产中心以及文化间和区域间关系的人类学问题。广泛的考古和文化材料将被分析，包括陶瓷、石头、编织、纺织品、植物和生物遗迹，以支持年代和来源研究，通过时间和环境引起的风化和其他变化来解释环境变化。VPSEM/EDS/RS应用的两个基于项目的例子是：1)对智利前哥伦布时期木乃伊的生物考古标本的研究，以协助解释中地平线时期（公元500-1000年）之前中部山谷的文化和生物起源；2)祖先普韦布洛人釉瓷釉漆配方的可变性和来源。在新建立的跨学科研究和教育项目的推动下，该仪器将被加州大学洛杉矶分校的教师和学生使用，以促进材料科学考古学的教学和多学科研究，并促进与博物馆和大学的国内和国际合作。研究成果将通过讨论小组、同行评议的文章和建立可供学者和更广泛的考古界访问的数据库来传播。国家科学基金会的支持还将为研究生和本科生开设“应用于考古方法和理论的技术”和“用于人类学考古学的显微镜和微观分析”课程提供种子资金。它还将协助进一步开展LMR的外展活动，通过互动的动手实验室实践课程和实验室参观，重点关注无代表社区的K-12学生。

With National Science Foundation support the Laboratory of Materials Research in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (a joint venture between the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and the Materials Science and Engineering Department at UCLA) will acquire a state of the art Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope (VPSEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive (EDS) and Raman Spectroscopy (RS) to foster cutting-edge research in integrated forensic bioanthropology and geoarchaeology. The combined capabilities of this instrument integrating imaging and morphological observations at nano length scale with elemental and molecular analysis of inorganic and organic materials provide a very powerful tool for the study of archaeological materials to answer important questions relating to production methods and material distribution reflecting the social structure and organization of ancient populations. The environmental capabilities of the VPSEM will allow archaeological artifacts to be analyzed non-invasively and without modification of their structure or chemistry. Archaeological materials that contain some moisture in their structure will be analyzed without risking dehydration and structural modifications. The versatile capabilities of this instrument will, undoubtedly, provide a new perspective and a novel approach to material characterization to answer anthropological questions regarding provenance of materials, production centers and intercultural and interregional relationships. A broad range of archaeological and cultural materials will be analyzed including ceramics, stone, basketry, textiles, botanical and biological remains, to support dating and provenance studies, the interpretation of environment change through time and environmentally-induced weathering and other changes. Two project-based examples of VPSEM/EDS/RS applications are: 1) the study of bioarcheological specimens from Pre-Columbian mummies in Chile to assist in the interpretation of the cultural and biological origins of the mid-valley prior to the Middle Horizon Period (AD 500-1000); 2) variability and sourcing of glaze-paint recipes of Ancestral Puebloan glazed-ceramics.Driven by newly established interdisciplinary research and education programs operating at the interface of science and archaeology, this instrument will be used by faculty and students from UCLA to facilitate teaching and multidisciplinary research in materials science based archaeology and to foster national and international collaborations with museums and universities. Research results will be disseminated through discussion groups, peer reviewed articles and the creation of databases that can be accessed by scholars and the broader archaeological community. The support from the National Science Foundation will also provide seed funding for the development of courses for graduate and undergraduate students on "technology applied to archaeological method and theory" and on "microscopy and microanalysis for anthropologically oriented archaeology". It will also assist at establishing further the outreach activities of the LMR focusing on K-12 students of unrepresented communities through interactive hands-on laboratory practical sessions and laboratory visits.