Improving access to the Elemental Analysis Facility and Inter-laboratory comparison

在国家科学基金会的支持下，菲尔德博物馆的Laure Dussubieux博士和Ryan Williams博士将1)继续向广泛的考古学者提供使用元素分析设备(EAF)的机会，2)为研究古代玻璃和古代陶瓷的LA-ICPMS用户组织实验室间比对测试。电弧炉包括带有能谱仪的扫描电子显微镜(SEM-EDS)和电感耦合等离子体质谱仪(ICP-MS)。电感耦合等离子体质谱可配备两个激光器。其中一个激光器致力于以高吞吐量对小物体进行采样，而第二个激光器是一种完全独特的、定制的设备，可以容纳大物体。该设备还配有两台便携式XRF仪器，用于对博物馆内或现场的文物进行完全非侵入性的调查。该设施用于以非破坏性的方式确定大量材料的组成，包括主要、次要和微量元素，以解决与美洲、非洲、大洋洲、欧洲和亚洲的文化生产、互动和交流的考古学相关的问题，并推动菲尔德博物馆著名人类学收藏品的材料保护事业。元素分析设施服务于菲尔德博物馆社区以及来自芝加哥地区、中西部和世界各地的学者和学生。该项目将加强我们与外部科学家的互动，通过提供财政支持来抵消旅行和住宿费用以及部分分析成本，以吸引高知名度的合作项目。菲尔德博物馆有一个现场实验室，为研究博物馆独特藏品中的文物创造了机会，这些文物不能轻易转移到外部分析设施。电炉在八年的活动中产生的大量数据，以及全国各地LA-ICP-MS实验室的成倍增加，都提出了数据集可比性的问题。参与实验室就两种被广泛分析的材料(玻璃和陶瓷)获得的数据将在实验室间比较测试的框架内进行比较。该项目的学术价值包括建立了来自世界各地的考古和民族学材料的广泛新数据库集，直接提供关于古代贸易和交流、技术及其与世界各地社会复杂性发展的关系的假设。通过分享我们在研究古代材料方面的专业知识，将领先的学者和研究生与博物馆的广泛收藏品联系起来，并为他们提供分析这些独一无二的集合的工具，该项目将显著提高对文化生产在复杂社会发展中的作用的理解。这项研究的更广泛影响包括学生培训和公共教育。该项目将本科生和研究生的研究和培养融为一体。他们通过进行分析本身进入分析过程，并接受方法开发、数据统计处理和解释方面的培训。这项研究的结果将为该机构未来的展览和教育活动提供信息，每年教育数十万学童和数百万参观者。实验室间的比对试验将是建立供考古学家使用的LA-ICPMS大型数据库的第一步。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Laure Dussubieux and Ryan Williams from the Field Museum will 1) continue offering access to the Elemental Analysis Facility (EAF) to a wide range of archaeological scholars and 2) organize inter-laboratory comparison tests for LA-ICP-MS users studying ancient glass and ancient ceramic. The EAF includes a scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), and inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The ICP-MS can be fitted with two lasers. One of the lasers is dedicated to the sampling of small objects with a high throughput, whereas the second laser, a totally unique, custom-transformed apparatus, accommodates large objects. This equipment is complemented by two portable XRF instruments for totally non-invasive investigations of artifacts on the premises of the Museum or in the field. The facility is used to determine the composition, including major, minor, and trace elements, of a large range of materials in a non-destructive manner to address questions related to the archaeology of cultural production, interaction and exchange in the Americas, Africa, Oceania, Europe, and Asia and advancing the cause of material conservation of The Field Museum's reknowned anthropology collections.The elemental analysis facility serves the Field Museum community as well as scholars and students from the Chicago area, the Midwest and throughout the world. This project will reinforce our interaction with outside scientists to attract high profile collaborative projects by offering financial support to offset travel and accommodation expenses as well as part of analytical costs. The presence of an on-site laboratory at the Field Museum creates the opportunity to study artifacts from the unique collections of the museum that could not be moved easily to outside analytical facilities. The large quantity of data generated by the EAF in eight years of activity and the multiplication of LA-ICP-MS laboratories around the country pose the questions of data set comparability. Data obtained by participating laboratories on two widely analyzed materials (glass and ceramic) will be compared in the framework of an inter-laboratory comparison test. The intellectual merits of the project include the establishment of extensive new datasets of archaeological and ethnological material from around the world that directly informs hypotheses about ancient trade and exchange, technology, and their relationship to the development of social complexity around the world. By sharing our expertise for the investigation of ancient material and linking leading scholars and graduate students to the museum's extensive collections and giving them the tools to analyze these one of a kind assemblages, the project will significantly enhance understanding of the role of cultural production in the development of complex societies. The broader impacts of the research include student training and public education. This project integrates research and training of undergraduate and graduate students. They are initiated into the analytical process by undertaking the analysis itself and are trained in method development, the statistical processing of the data, and interpretation. Results of this research will inform future exhibits and education activities of the institution, which educate hundreds of thousands of school children and millions of visitors annually. The inter-laboratory comparison test will constitute a first step toward the elaboration of a large data base of LA-ICP-MS data for the use of archaeologists.