The Role Of Microscopy In Archaeology

Microscopy is one of the “most versatile analytical techniques in archaeology” , applicable to a wide range of organic and inorganic artefacts, such as bone, pollen, and ceramics. Indeed, microscopic study of organic remains can tell archaeologists about the environment in the past and how people lived, but can also help find traces of organic material that have long since rotted away . Within this, there are several different types of microscopy that may be used in archaeology: optical microscopes, Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM) which can be used to examine artefacts found in sites. Optical microscopes work through focusing light through a series of aperture lenses to magnify objects to the

The second aim was to establish a methodology, using microscopy and other techniques under near-ideal conditions, which other institutions could adopt and adapt for their own investigations. Material for the electron microscopy were pieces of tissue approximately 5 millimetres in length were taken from areas adjacent from to those removed in a histological examination, with ultrathin sections cut and stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and then examined under an optical microscope, a TEM and a SEM

The sarcophagi of the two brothers depicted one as “[black] and the other as ‘Semitic’” [11], which raises questions on the parentage of the two brothers – how could they be brothers if they were different races? In the hair structure of these two races, there are structural and pigmentary differences, and so by examining the hair of the mummies, it was hoped that such differences would clarify the races of the two brothers. The SEM study found that all the samples were reddish in colour and identical in structure. However, the colour of the hair may have absolutely no bearing on what colour the brothers’ hair may have been in life, as through the preparation of the body, micro-organisms, and bleaching in life may alter the colour. Further, from mammoths frozen in the permafrost to mummies from peat bogs have reddish hair [11]. In light of this, the colour of the brothers’ hair does not seem to be useful. However, the structure of the hair found was identical, and from this two conclusions can be drawn – the hair from one of the brothers was not preserved, and the scientists mistakenly thought the samples were from both brothers, or that both brothers were of the same race. This does not, however,