The Archaeology and Natural History department's laboratories house state-of-the-art equipment for the exploration of environmental and archaeological questions.
Schools and Centres Pages
Labs
ANH houses eight research laboratories (including three quarantine laboratories) and one teaching laboratory.
Mercury Analyser
Our direct mercury analyser allows for the detection of mercury in sediment, soil, biological and water samples.
Desktop SEM
Our desktop SEM allows for the high resolution imgaging as well as elemental analysis of macroscopic and microscopic remains such as charcoal, textiles, archaeological material and pollen.
Sue O'Connor and Shimona Kealy (Image Supplied)
Research supported by our laboratories includes prehistoric textiles, archaeobotanical remains, rock art, faunal material, lithics, and ceramics.
Bone palaeoproteomics (Image: Gouri Banerji)
Bone Palaeoproteomics
The ANH laboratories host the only facility in Australia focused on the analysis of ancient bone proteins through shot-gun proteomics. We house high precision balances, decontamination UV clean box, benchtop centrifuge, thermomixer and dedicated pipettes for sample preparation. For more information, contact Dr Sofia Samper Carro.
Dr Sofia Samper Carro at work (Image: Gouri Banerji)
Dedicated pipettes (Image: Gouri Banerji)
Tubes from the Bone palaeoproteomics (Image: Gouri Banerji)
Pollen
We maintain the largest pollen reference collection in Australia, as well as excellent plant, bone, shell and obsidian collections.
With a wide range of optical microscopes and a scanning electron microscope, we can analyse artefacts, pollen, charcoal, phytoliths and diatoms from both ancient and modern sites.
The Department of Archaeology and Natural History
Our research aims to understand past human societies, the environments in which they developed and the environmental consequences of human presence.
