RESEARCH METHOD
Organic residue analysis
Lipids and biomolecular traces of activities and organic preservation.
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What the method shows
Molecular traces of organic material and its preservation in archaeological sediment.
How we use it in HEL
At Tel Burna, organic residue analysis complements pXRF and pOSL when evaluating a destruction horizon and stratigraphic preservation.
02
How the method works
Organic compounds, most often lipids, are extracted from a cleanly collected sample. Chromatography separates the mixture and mass spectrometry helps identify individual compounds or diagnostic molecular patterns.
Biomarkers can record the presence and preservation of organic matter and sometimes constrain the type of material input. In sediment, however, primary archaeological signals must be separated from degradation, molecular migration and modern contamination.
One molecule rarely has a unique source. Interpretation relies on the full compound profile, controls and blanks, and its stratigraphic context.
pXRF, micromorphology, pOSL and strict control of stratigraphic context.
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In practice
- Input / materialsediment or archaeological material for molecular extraction
- Scale / resolutionsample and stratigraphic unit
- Sampling / preparationcontamination-controlled sampling, suitable containers and blanks
- Typical outputcompound profiles, biomarkers and assessment of organic preservation
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Limits and control
Organic preservation varies, so HEL combines biomolecular data with geochemistry, luminescence and stratigraphy.
Tel Burna
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References and HEL studies
Selected studies underpinning the method descriptions and examples used by Human Earth Lab.