Smarter Digs with Mobile Archaeology Lab

June 4, 2012

“It has changed the whole paradigm of how to solve archaeological problems in the field, using both what you see by eye and what you can reveal with instrumentation—the microscopic archaeological record, from sub-millimeter scale down to the atomic level,” he tells ISRAEL21c.

With the help of the lab, the Weizmann team, together with the archaeology team, determined that the destruction was not one cataclysmic event, but more likely occurred over decades, with periods of erosion and abandonment. Says Weiner, “You can only understand that by getting into all the microscopic details.”

The mobile lab is a critical part of a holistic “micro archaeology” approach that puts natural scientific methods to work in the field. Much information can be extracted microscopically from excavated materials such as ceramic, bone, rock, ash, plants and sediment. Beginning this process in the field is best. Scientists can set up shop at a dig for weeks at a time and still be close to their home institution.

“From the late 1980s, our idea was to address analytical investigation at the site and to get information in real time,” Weiner explains. “If you sample something, and it turns out to be interesting, you can't achieve much if you have to wait to analyze it as the excavation has proceeded and the feature is destroyed.”

The field lab consists of portable infrared spectrometers and a portable petro graphic microscope, while another lab at the base camp can facilitate more intricate analyses of the day's finds. By the following morning, the results are ready and can be used to decide on the day's excavation strategy.

Source: Excerpts of an article by Abigail Klein Leichman, www.israel21c.org