Example: EMPA and Coronado's Musket Balls - Part 2
4/25/08
 
Example: The Process of Analyzing Two (Modern) Coins
1/16/08
 
Example: Quantitative Chemical Analysis of Ancient Glass
12/7/07
 
Example: Can EMPA Identify Coronado's Musket Balls?
12/6/07
 
Example: Egyptian Scarab and Its Hieroglyph Pigments
12/5/07
 
Example: Investigation of Cast-Iron Technology
12/4/07
 
Example: Historical Red Bricks from Two Manufacturers
12/3/07
 
Example: Examining the Microstructure of Flint and Chert
12/2/07
 
Example: Examining Antique Porcelain for Lead Glaze
12/1/07
 
Example: Does the Tool Match the Identified Source?
11/29/07
 
Example: Red Stone Tool -- Is It Pipestone or Shale?
11/26/07
 
Example: Experiment to Distinguish Different Slag Types
11/24/07
 
Example: Distinguishing Novaculite and Metaquartzite
11/23/07
 
Example: Sourcing Japanese Sanukite Stone Tools
11/22/07
 
Update: New Research on Sourcing Nephrite Artifacts
11/21/07
 
Imaging Example #2: Neolithic/Predynastic Egyptian Point
10/17/07
 
Imaging Example #1: Neolithic Point from Saudi Arabia
10/15/07
 
Example: East Java Mosaic Glass Beads
8/24/07
 
Example: Historical Iron Slag from Minneapolis
8/24/07
 
Example: Identifying an Inclusion within Dacite
7/25/07
 
Thoughts on Sourcing New Zealand Greenstone
7/25/07
 
Select Bibliography of EMPA in Archaeology
6/7/07
 
Example: Buttons from Fur-Trade-Era Minnesota
6/4/07
 
Example: A Lost (and Found) Brass Spoon
6/4/07
 
Example: Brick from the Denbigh Shipwreck
6/4/07
 
Example: Sherds from Mari, Syria and Lassy, France
5/30/07
 
Example: North American Copper Fragments
5/30/07
 
Example: Unknown "Ball" from a Viking Site
5/30/07
 
Analysis in Archaeology, Part 2: Provenance Studies
5/29/07
 
Analysis in Archaeology, Part 1: Technology Studies
5/29/07
 
EMPA in Archaeology: Examples from the 1950s to 1990s
5/25/07
 
History and Development of Electron Microprobe Analysis
5/25/07
 
Principles and Physics of Electron Microprobe Analysis
5/25/07
 
Recommended Books on Electron Microprobe Analysis
5/23/07
 
 
Electron Microprobe Analysis in Archaeology
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Electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), also known as electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), is an analytical technique that combines scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and compositional analysis using x-ray spectrometry.  The ability to determine structure and chemistry of samples makes EMPA very versatile.  This is a dominant analytical technique in geology, but it is not as commonly used in archaeology despite similar materials in studied both fields.  Here I will post about topics in EMPA, artifacts I have analyzed, archaeological studies that use EMPA, etc.  If there is a topic you'd like to see posted here, please let me know.
 
Ellery Frahm
Doctoral Candidate, Archaeology
Research Fellow, Geology & Geophysics
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
 
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Obsidian Sourcing

Electron Microprobe Analysis in Archaeology

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