Centre for Geoarchaeology and Palaeoenvironmental Research
Laboratory Facilities
The Centre for Geoarchaeology and Palaeoenvironmental Research has two main laboratories. These include firstly a dry sample processing laboratory which incorporates long sample preparation benches, a Sedigraph partical size analysis system, refrigeration for the storage of core samples and quarantine facilities. The other laboratory is primarely a microfossil analysis laboratory specialising in the extraction and analysis of fossil and modern diatoms, phytoliths, pollen and starch grains.
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| The laboratory has two recently installed fumehoods comprising one with a scrubber unit for work with chemicals of high toxicity and one for standard acid digests on the right. | From left to right a warmer for microscope slide preparation, one eight bucket and one sixteen bucket centrifuge. |
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| The Olympus BX51 Microscope above is fitted with polarizing filters and a cooled head Micropublisher 5 mega-pixel digital camera for darkfield photography of fossil starch grains | Micrometrics Sedighraph for particle size analysis and counts of sediment fractions. We have also used this system for determining the size range of phytoliths in assemblages. |
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| Ultrusonic baths are used in the lab one to clean herbarium specimens prior to phytolith extraction to avoid contamination and the other for the extraction of residues from artefacts. |
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| Microwave digestion sample preparation system for the extraction of microfossils from sediments and phytoliths from herbarium specimens (Parr, 2002; Parr et. al.2001). The system is also used for the preparation of sample for analysis by ICP/MS providing most element and isotope values in ppm. This is a particularly useful instrument for Geoarchaeology and Palaeoenvronmental research applications (Parr and Furrugia 2002) |