Solid-Sample Inorganic Analysis Facilities for Archaeological Research at IIRMES, CSULB

加州州立大学长滩分校（CSULB）材料、环境和社会综合研究所（IIRMES）的一组考古科学家将利用美国国家科学基金会的资助，扩大固体样品表征技术在考古学中的应用。IIRMES的分析仪器包括一台带x射线探测器的扫描电子显微镜、两台电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（ICP-MS）、一个附加在ICP-MS上的激光烧蚀（LA）系统，以及用于考古文物发光定年的仪器。这些工具在调查古代技术、确定人工制品来源和调查贸易关系、调查古代人口流动和测定年代等方面都很有用。美国国家科学基金会对IIRMES的资助将支持来自美国和国外的考古学家使用这些分析资源。该项目建立在共享分析资源的模型上，该模型在过去二十年中为考古学提供了很好的服务。在这种模式下，美国国家科学基金会考古计划部分资助那些长期致力于合作考古研究的实验室。有了国家科学基金会的资助，学术研究人员的分析费用就能负担得起了，因此，计划涉及足够大的样本量的分析工作，以解决重大的考古问题，就变得可行了。美国国家科学基金会对IIRMES实验室的资助将用于(1)资助来自美国和国外的合作研究人员的分析费用，这些研究人员将把样品送到IIRMES进行分析；(2)资助来自美国和国外的访问研究人员，他们将访问实验室并获得在研究中使用LA-ICP-MS和其他技术的实践培训；(3)致力于提高固体样品元素和同位素表征以及发光测年剂量学的精度。虽然这个项目的目的是扩大考古学家获得分析技术的机会，但它也旨在促进创新和促进考古科学方面的培训。访问研究员计划的申请将部分根据其新颖性和开辟考古研究新途径的可能性来判断。该项目面向所有学术水平的学生，从本科生到高级学者，来自美国或外国。预计许多访问研究人员将是从事硕士和博士论文项目的个人。通过他们在IIRMES的工作，学生参与者将更好地理解分析技术和方法，从而成为专业考古学家。该项目还将对CSULB的当地研究和教育环境产生重要影响，CSULB是西海岸最大城市地区中心的指定少数民族服务机构。研究生和本科生将负责资助项目的样品制备和分析，并与访问学者密切合作。高级学生将在课堂研究项目和他们自己的论文项目中使用IIRMES的仪器，其中一些可能是与访问学者合作的结果。此外，CSULB各学科的学生将有机会在整合考古学、人类学、地质学、生物学、化学和其他学科的知识和技术的研究项目中使用最先进的分析仪器。最后，一旦原始研究人员发表了他们自己在IIRMES进行的考古研究报告，分析数据将在IIRMES网站上公布。

A team of archaeological scientists at the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments, and Societies (IIRMES), California State University Long Beach (CSULB) will use NSF funding to expand the use of solid-sample characterization techniques in archaeology. IIRMES analytical instruments include a scanning electron microscope with x-ray detectors, two inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (ICP-MS), a laser-ablation (LA) system attached to the ICP-MS, and instruments for luminescence dating of archaeological artifacts. These instruments are useful in the investigation of ancient technology, artifact source determination and investigation of trade relations, investigation of ancient human population movements, and dating. NSF funding for IIRMES will support the use of these analytical resources by archaeologists from across the US and abroad This project builds on a model of shared analytical resources that has served archaeology well during the past two decades. In this model, the NSF Archaeometry Program partially funds labs with demonstrated long-term commitments to collaborative archaeological research. With the NSF subsidy, analysis costs are much more affordable for academic researchers, so that it becomes practical to plan analytical efforts involving sample sizes large enough to address significant archaeological questions. NSF funding of the IIRMES lab will be used (1) to subsidize analytical costs for collaborating researchers from the US and abroad, who will send samples to IIRMES for analysis (2) to fund visiting researchers from the US and abroad, who will visit the lab and obtain hands-on training in using LA-ICP-MS and other techniques in their research; and (3) to work toward improved precision in solid-sample elemental and isotopic characterization and dosimetry for luminescence dating.While this project is designed to broaden access by archaeologists to analytical techniques, it is also designed to foster innovation and to promote training in archaeological science. Applications for the visiting researcher program will be judged partly on their novelty and the likelihood that they may open new avenues of archaeological research. The program is open to all academic levels, from undergraduate students through senior scholars, from the US or foreign countries. It is anticipated that many of the visiting researchers will be individuals working on MA and Ph.D. thesis projects. Through their work at IIRMES, student participants will carry a better understanding of analytical techniques and methods into their future careers as professional archaeologists.The project will also have important impacts locally on the research and education environment at CSULB, a designated minority-serving institution in the heart of the largest urban area on the west coast. CSULB graduate and undergraduate students will carry out sample preparation and analysis on subsidized projects, and they will work closely with visiting researchers. Advanced students will use IIRMES instruments in class research projects and in their own thesis projects, some of which will likely grow out of collaborations with visiting researchers. In addition, CSULB students across the sciences will benefit from the opportunity to use state-of-the-art analytical instruments in research projects that integrate knowledge and techniques from archaeology, anthropology, geology, biology, chemistry, and other disciplines.Finally, once the original researchers have published their own reports of the archaeometric research undertaken at IIRMES, the analytical data will be published on the IIRMES website.