Fellow HISTARCH Members:

Wondjina Research Institute (WRI), Thermo Fisher Scientific NITON Analyzers and Country Chemist are sponsoring a SHA workshop of the capabilities of the newly developed pXRF technology for archaeology with on site surveys and a "hands on" use of the new, NITON XL3T analyzer at Fork York and sites within the Toronto area on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 6th and 7th prior to the SHA conference in Toronto, Ontario.  Dr. Claudia Bracket, Archaeochemist, of California State University-Stanislaus (CSUS) and Mr. Richard J. Lundin, Archaeogeophysicist, RPA and Director of WRI will conduct the surveys and workshop for the Fort York and the University of Toronto staff on Wednesday. All interested parties are invited to bring samples for free pXRF analyses at the NITON booth at the conference.  Dr. Brackett and Mr. Lundin are pioneers in the use of this technology for archaeology and have given very successful workshops and presentations on its use at SHA meetings in Sacramento, Williamsburg and Albuquerque; SAA meetings in San Juan and Austin, SCA  meeting in Burbank, AGU meetings in Acapulco and San Francisco,a National Park Service Workshop in San Francisco and several industry sponsored workshops in Vancouver and San Diego.

The demonstration and workshop will be held at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel SHA Conference site and sites in the Toronto Area from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. according to the schedule below:

Day 1:

09:00-12:00 Lecture Session by Dr. Claudia Brackett of COUNTRY CHEMIST with classrom instruction giving the archaeologist a basic working understanding  of the chemical principles that are applicable and specific to archaeology.(Appropriate breaks will be taken as needed by the group)

12:00-13:00 Lunch Break with Dr. Brackett, Mr. Lundin of WRI and other invited Industry participants.

13:00-1700 Lecture Session by Mr. Richard Lundin of WRI on the History and Practice of Field Archaeochemistry and it relationship to Combined Survey Format (CSF) archaeogeophysical and archaeochemical field studies, demonstrations of archaeochemical laboratory and field equipment by Dr. Brackett, Mr. Lundin and invited Industry participants, distribution of Workshop CD's containing Dr. Brackett and Mr. Lundin presentations and copies of both early and recent papers and presentations on field archaeochemistry.

Day 2:

09:00-12:00 Travel to the Fort York Site and an Orientation Lecture by personnel from Fort York on the site(s) they are working on.(Appropriate breaks will be taken as needed by the group)

12:00-13:00 Lunch Break with Dr. Brackett, Mr. Lundin and other invited Industry participants.

13:00-1700 Field Demonstrations\Surveys utilizing field equipment by Dr. Brackett, Mr. Lundin and invited Industry participants. Return to Fairmont Royal York Hotel SHA Conference.

Chemistry has always been an effective tool for the modern Archaeologist.  However, with the development of new technology, chemical analysis is becoming increasingly easier, cheaper and thus more important.  The workshop is designed to give the practicing Archaeologist a basic working understanding of the chemical principles that are applicable and specific to archaeology.  The class is targeted for a participant that has little or no previous background in chemistry.  Topics to be covered are "Elements and Molecules, or what is in that stuff anyway?" " Biomolecules, or getting a site/object to speak to you," "Chemical Statistics, or understanding all that gibberish that came back from the lab," and Soil Chemistry, or getting information when you can't see a thing."  Topics will be presented in a combination of lecture and hands-on demonstrations.  We will be using simple UV-Visible spectrophotometer, portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer and, possibly, other field portable equipment.  Participants are encouraged to bring their own specimens for non-destructive analysis.  The specimens should be solids (not liquids) and eith 10 grams of material, or a surface area about 3/4 inch square."

Dr. Brackett is a practicing Archaeochemist, Chemistry Instructor at CSUS, Principal of COUNTRY CHEMIST, member of SAA, SHA, SAS, has made several presentations and the SHA Workshop on this topic, has been doing major archaeochemical studies for mineral industry and developer clients since 2003 and was the Co-Chair of an archaeochemical symposium at SAA in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  She has a BS Degree in Chemistry from CSUS, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Analytical Chemistry from University of the Pacific.  She is one of the innovators in the use of field portable XRF equipment in archaeology and has several publications on this topic pending.

Mr. Lundin is a practicing Archaeogeophysicist and Airbourne Remote Sensing Specialist, Director of WRI, member of SAA, SHA, SAS, SEG, SME, AGS, ISAP, AGU and SCA,has made several presentations and the SHA Workshop on this topic, has been doing major archaeochemical studies for mineral industry and developer clients since 2003 and was the Co-Chair of an archaeochemical symposium at SAA in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  He has a BA in Anthropology from Beloit College, a MA degree in Historical Archaeology from Northern Arizona University, 35 years of experience in the mineral industry doing field geochemistry and archaeochemistry.  He is a Registered Professional Archaeologist and the discoverer of the applicability of portable XRF technology to field and laboratory studies in archaeology and has several publications on this topic pending.

Both Dr. Brackett and Mr. Lundin have extensive archaeochemical field and laboratory experience and are supported by ThermoFisher Scientific NITON Analyzers in their research.  They are the Co-Chairs of the new SHA Technology Committee.

If you would like to find out more on the reception to the SHA Workshops at Williamsburg and Albuquerque and our work in Mexico or make a reservation for the Workshop,  contact Dr. Jamie Brandon at [log in to unmask] 


Sincerely,

Claudia L. Brackett, MS, Ph.D.
Consulting Archaeochemist
Principal, COUNTRY CHEMIST

Richard J. Lundin, BA, MA, RPA, ISAP
Consulting Historical Archaeologist & Remote Sensing Specialist (Archaeogeophysicist)
Director, Wondjina Research Institute