NIR Mapping of the Mastodon Tusk Layers

Creator

Carli Jo Russenberger, University of Northern IowaFollow

Files

Document Type

Open Access Poster

Keywords

Mastodons--Iowa--Franklin County; Fossils--Collection and preservation--Iowa;

Description

This tusk was unearthed in September of 1933 in the town of Hampton, Iowa. About two feet from the proximal end, the tip broke upon extrication. In order to preserve this archaeological finding, many layers of lacquers, plasters, and varnishes were applied. 3 The layers of preservation are not well identified, as well as the timing of application.

By using the Near Infrared (NIR) technique, infrared light is applied to the tusk and wavelengths are absorbed. The absorbances can help determine the functional groups of the restoration materials in the NIR range of 4,000 to 10,000 wavenumbers.

The objective of the experiment is to provide guidance towards the identification of preservation techniques. By identifying the compounds, a more accurate timeline of preservation application can someday be composed.

Publication Date

Fall 2019

Faculty Advisor

Joshua Sebree

Department

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Publisher

Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Copyright

©2019 Carli Jo Russenberger

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Russenberger, Carli Jo, "NIR Mapping of the Mastodon Tusk Layers" (2019). Fall 2019 - Chemical Analysis Class Projects. 1.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/chemanaly_fa2019/1