Vanessa Muros Awarded Boochever Endowment

Vanessa Muros has been awarded funds from the Kathleen and David Boochever Endowment for Fieldwork and Scientific Analyses by the Archaeological Institute of America. The endowment supports fieldwork or laboratory research informed by new technologies. Muros is director of the Experimental and Archaeological Sciences Laboratory at the Cotsen Institute.

The project for which she received the award will test the efficacy and reliability of two low-tech methods: ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence and the Raspail test, a microchemical test for plant terpenoids to analyze organic residues in pottery in the field.

Muros will first run tests on ceramic tiles she will make in the laboratory. Based on the results, she will use the developed methods on pottery from ancient Methone in northern Greece when she works in the field in summer. A conservator on the Ancient Methone Project, she is responsible for the preservation of the excavated materials. She is mainly focused on the conservation of artifacts (ceramics, metals, stone, glass, bone, and ivory) but also helps other team members with research on the excavated material.

“Part of the work that I do in terms of conservation and research is materials identification,” she explained. She is often asked to help archaeologists identify residues found in excavated ceramic vessels. “Sometimes we can bring portable analytical instruments to the field for more sophisticated characterization of materials, such as with the portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. Most of the time, however, we need to rely on low-tech methods that we easily can use in the field.”

She has already been using ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence and the Raspail test for the identification of residues but says that some work from the Arizona State Museum showed that the analysis is not consistent. “Because I was relying on these techniques in the field, I thought it would be important to set up systematic testing of the methods to check how consistently either can be to identify the types of organic materials that we may be looking for on the excavated material at ancient Methone. To do this, I am now creating a set of ceramic tiles that I will be coating with different materials (pine resin, mastic,

Vanessa Muros.

beeswax, and birch bark tar), and then I’ll analyze the resins using both methods. The thickness of the coatings will vary, so I can see how this affects my identifications.”

She added, “I also am going to artificially age a set of coated tiles to see if that has any impact on the results. The goal is to understand how the two methods respond to the materials and how consistent they can be if the residue thickness changes or the material is aged and deteriorated. The results of the tests will be used to determine how best to apply these methods on the ceramics I will be examining this summer at Methone.” ■