Support for collaborative projects in the Elemental Analysis Facility at The Field Museum

该奖项将继续美国国家科学基金会（NSF）对位于芝加哥菲尔德博物馆的元素分析设施（EAF）的支持，该设施拥有用于陶瓷、玻璃、金属和颜料等古代材料快速成分分析的仪器，以加强对广泛人类学主题的研究。研究人员能够以非破坏性的方式分析考古样本中的主要，次要和微量元素，以解决与文化生产，互动和交流的考古学相关的问题，并推进菲尔德博物馆着名的人类学收藏品的物质保护事业。EAF为菲尔德博物馆社区以及来自芝加哥地区、中西部和其他地方的学者和学生提供财政支持，以抵消旅行和住宿费用以及部分分析费用。菲尔德博物馆现场实验室的存在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。EAF还支持本科生和研究生的研究和培训。学生通过进行自己的分析开始进入分析过程，并在方法开发，数据的统计处理和解释方面接受培训。这项研究的结果将为菲尔德博物馆未来的展览和教育活动提供信息，该博物馆每年为数十万学童和数百万游客提供科学教育和宣传。EAF包括带能量色散谱仪（SEM-EDS）的扫描电子显微镜和电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（ICP-MS）。ICP-MS能配备有两个激光器。其中一个激光器专门用于高通量小物体的采样，而第二个激光器，一个完全独特的，定制改造的设备，可容纳大型物体。一种新的实验性便携式激光器能够在实验室外对人工制品进行取样，并可用于LA-ICP-MS元素分析或同位素分析（与外部设施合作）。该设备还配有三台便携式XRF仪器，用于对博物馆房内或实地的文物进行完全非侵入性的调查。该项目的智力价值包括建立了来自世界各地的广泛的考古和民族学材料的新数据集，这些数据集直接为有关古代贸易和交换、技术及其与世界各地社会复杂性发展的关系的假设提供了依据。通过为古代材料的调查提供专业知识，将顶尖学者和研究生与博物馆广泛的收藏联系起来，并为他们提供分析这些独一无二的组合的工具，该项目将大大提高对文化生产在复杂社会发展中的作用的理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will continue National Science Foundation (NSF) support for the Elemental Analysis Facility (EAF) at the Field Museum in Chicago, which hosts instrumentation for the rapid compositional analysis of ancient materials like ceramics, glass, metals, and pigments, to enhance research on a very wide range of anthropological topics. Researchers are able to analyze archaeological samples for major, minor, and trace elements in a non-destructive manner to address questions related to the archaeology of cultural production, interaction and exchange and advance the cause of material conservation of The Field Museum's renowned anthropology collections. The EAF serves the Field Museum community as well as scholars and students from the Chicago area, the Midwest and elsewhere by offering financial support to offset travel and accommodation expenses as well as part of the 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 EAF also supports undergraduate and graduate student research and training. Students are initiated into the analytical process by undertaking their own analyses 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 Field Museum, which provides science education and outreach for hundreds of thousands of school children and millions of visitors annually.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. A new experimental portable laser is able to sample artifacts outside the lab and can be used for elemental analysis with LA-ICP-MS or for isotope analysis (in collaboration with outside facilities). This equipment is complemented by three portable XRF instruments for totally non-invasive investigations of artifacts on the premises of the Museum or in the field. The intellectual merits of the project include the establishment of extensive new datasets of archaeological and ethnological material from around the world that directly inform hypotheses about ancient trade and exchange, technology, and their relationship to the development of social complexity around the world. By providing expertise for the investigation of ancient material, 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.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.