Dr. Trinkley,
Dr. Stuart Smith in the Anthro Department of UC Santa Barbara is currently
conducting this type of analysis on Egyptian and Nubian ceramics and may be
able to help.
                        -J. Cameron Monroe

At 12:35 PM 9/12/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Friends,
>
>I'm looking for a lab capable -- and more importantly, willing -- to
>conduct lipid analyses of several samples of carbonized remains from
>interiors of vessels.
>
>More specifically, we need a lab with gc and ms, as well as the
>appropriate library. The protocol is very similar to food analysis  --
>extraction of the fat, hydrolysis of the glycerol ester, preparation of
>the methyl esters, separation of the esters by gc. In order to detect
>coincidence of two different compounds in the same peak  we'd probably
>need  two different loaded columns for separation. The only real
>difference between this and more typical food research seems to be that
>the purification step is omitted ( to avoid contamination with modern
>fat and also to avoid autoxidation of the small amounts of material
>present).
>
>Also, based on established protocols, the residues are extracted without
>any prior
>preparation in a Soxhlet apparatus, with the extract (after evaporation
>of most of the solvent) used to prepare the methyl esters. Typically the
>only part of the chromatogram used are those evidencing methyl esters,
>although some we'd also like to look at the cetyl alcohol, since it may
>provide information on fish resources.
>
>The local university isn't interested, the Smithsonian doesn't do this
>type of analysis, we're still waiting for a reply from the Getty, as
>well as the Canadian Conservation Institute. We're gone through about 10
>commercial labs -- all with no success.
>
>If anyone knows of a lab -- any type of lab -- which is willing and able
>to do this kind of work on a reasonable for-fee basis, please let me
>know.
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Michael Trinkley, Ph.D.
>Director
>Chicora Foundation, Inc.
>PO Box 8664
>Columbia, SC  29202 USA
>803/787-6910
>[log in to unmask]
>www.chicora.org
>