Short Description
Extensively equipped laboratory for sample digestion, substance extraction and preparation.
Contact Person
Dimitra Kourtidou MSc, Ph.D.
Research Services
The Archaeological Sciences unit of the Austrian Archaeological Institute is dedicated to the interdisciplinary analysis of archaeological artifacts and ecofacts. In-house expertise includes lithics and marble research, ceramic/clay/mortar and color archaeometry, archaeogeochemistry as well as archaeoichthyology, archaeothanatology and histotaphonomy, archaeobotany and expertise in the field of food archaeology.
The wet laboratory is the central infrastructure for the chemical-physical preparation of sample materials, such as the extraction of organic micro-residues or the preparation of inorganic and organic substances for chromatography and spectrometry applications.
In addition to the wet laboratory, a washing laboratory (rough work) and a preparation laboratory (preparation and embedding of thin sections) are also available for sample preparation.
Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure
The Wet Lab at the ÖAI is designed for the chemical processing of challenging materials. This includes working with hazardous substances, including highly flammable, highly corrosive, and toxic substances (hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, acetic anhydride). The laboratory has two modern fume hoods (one of which is suitable for hydrofluoric acid) as well as a wide range of other equipment such as: hot plates, sample shakers/stirrers, ultra-fine scale, centrifuges, orbital shaker, ball mill, muffle furnace, ultrasonic baths, microlitre pipettes. Current applications include sample preparation for fine chemical analysis (HPLC, GC-MS, FTIR) and for pollen analysis. In two further laboratory rooms, equipment is available for washing and sieving (soil samples, ceramics, bones) and for making thin sections.