Some work came in
I thought people might be interested in the small project I'm doing. It's a paid project, although it's not much - just enough to keep us going a bit longer. I am VERY thankful for the work, and hope more follows.
One of my colleagues I know is a Forensic Anthropologist, and a project she's taken on is trying to identify several people from the region who were found dead (skeletal remains) but never identified. She's asked my mentor to do bone chemistry analysis on the bones to help try to get an idea of where people are from. We're hoping that the results will provide information on their diet at a few points in their life, and combining that with Strontium isotope information and Oxygen isotope information (in teeth for instance) we can get an idea where a person grew up, or at least narrow it down a lot. Combining this with other information may help find their identity.
I'm doing the sample prep work, and ran into a small snag that we came up with a solution for (literally). The bone samples are too small for the usual preparation. This new experimental technique should be quite helpful, if it works (and theoretically it should).
It's rather interesting work, although measuring out 10mg of powder per test is a bit tedious and I have yet to start the chemical processing. I'm also having to do background research... we also run tests on hair and can tell dietary changes pretty much month-to-month, and I had to figure out how to identify the proximal end of the hair (the end at the scalp). The situation being what it is, it's a bit tricky.
I'm rather tickled to be helping with something like this... I may do some good for these people (and their families). I think that at least some of them were victims of foul play.
Next project... who knows? We have three or four in the works, as soon as funding turns loose. The first is developing calibration standards and protocols for portable x-ray fluorescence machines (which we regularly use). There is a real problem with them because while they are very precise and sensitive (can detect tiny amounts of elements, and one reading compares well with another), the accuracy is way off, especially for archaeological materials. You can't trust the reading to be right. The second project in the works (waiting on funding to be released) is to use ground penetrating radar to identify graves in a very old cemetery and determine its extent - about a week or two worth of work. The third, a big one, is to take the pXRF (portable x-ray fluorescence unit) out west at an archaeological site, to identify points where further excavation is warranted.
This is the sort of stuff I'm good at (along with more general archaeology and anthropology "things"). It's been aggravating to be unemployed for so long, and the identification project has been a real Godsend.
One of my colleagues I know is a Forensic Anthropologist, and a project she's taken on is trying to identify several people from the region who were found dead (skeletal remains) but never identified. She's asked my mentor to do bone chemistry analysis on the bones to help try to get an idea of where people are from. We're hoping that the results will provide information on their diet at a few points in their life, and combining that with Strontium isotope information and Oxygen isotope information (in teeth for instance) we can get an idea where a person grew up, or at least narrow it down a lot. Combining this with other information may help find their identity.
I'm doing the sample prep work, and ran into a small snag that we came up with a solution for (literally). The bone samples are too small for the usual preparation. This new experimental technique should be quite helpful, if it works (and theoretically it should).
It's rather interesting work, although measuring out 10mg of powder per test is a bit tedious and I have yet to start the chemical processing. I'm also having to do background research... we also run tests on hair and can tell dietary changes pretty much month-to-month, and I had to figure out how to identify the proximal end of the hair (the end at the scalp). The situation being what it is, it's a bit tricky.
I'm rather tickled to be helping with something like this... I may do some good for these people (and their families). I think that at least some of them were victims of foul play.
Next project... who knows? We have three or four in the works, as soon as funding turns loose. The first is developing calibration standards and protocols for portable x-ray fluorescence machines (which we regularly use). There is a real problem with them because while they are very precise and sensitive (can detect tiny amounts of elements, and one reading compares well with another), the accuracy is way off, especially for archaeological materials. You can't trust the reading to be right. The second project in the works (waiting on funding to be released) is to use ground penetrating radar to identify graves in a very old cemetery and determine its extent - about a week or two worth of work. The third, a big one, is to take the pXRF (portable x-ray fluorescence unit) out west at an archaeological site, to identify points where further excavation is warranted.
This is the sort of stuff I'm good at (along with more general archaeology and anthropology "things"). It's been aggravating to be unemployed for so long, and the identification project has been a real Godsend.