X-Ray Florescence Lab

X-Ray Florescence (XRF) is a technology that allows us to examine the elemental makeup of materials. We can apply this in so many ways to answer anthropological questions! The XRF@UNC lab has opportunities for students to get involved with hands-on research, supports student research projects, and collaborates with community organizations across Colorado and Wyoming. Interested in learning more? Contact Dr. Marian Hamilton (Marian.hamilton@rooyi.net) with your research idea or to get involved with ongoing projects.

Undergraduate instruction in XRF technology is supported by CARES Act funding through UNC. Ongoing XRF research is supported by a sponsored research grant from Bruker Nano.

These are some of the projects supported by the lab since Fall 2021:
- Forensic Analysis of Teaching Collection Human Remains to Asses Diet and Origins
- Determining the Diets and Identities of Primate Skulls from the UNC Biology Museum
- Assessing Heavy Metals Contamination in Spices and Teas
- Assessing how Trace Elements Vary in Skeletons with and without Evidence of Metabolic Disease
- Jurassic Jigsaw; Site Matching through Trace Element Analysis at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center (WDC)
- Determining Aariation in the Strontium-Calcium Ratios of Ugandan Plants
- Differentiating Frugivores and Folivores Among Ugandan Primates
- Dietary analysis of Early North American primate teeth (in collaboration with the University of Wyoming’s Geology Museum)
- Measurements of Sr/Ca Ratios in Horse Teeth related to Weening, Dietary Change, and Climate (in collaboration with UC Boulder’s Archeological Museum)
- Measuring Iron Concentrations in Individuals with Cribra Orbitalia and Porotic Hyperostosis Using XRF - McNair Scholars project by Eduardo Maya
- Determining Dietary Niche in Primates Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence - McNair Scholars project by Theresa Schwartz
- Identification of toxins in archeological artifacts

Aiden Branham xrf fieldwork

Anthropology student Aiden Branham conducts XRF field work in Douglass, WY.

Emily Dzhinenko measures a dried leaf.

UNC alumna Emily Dzhinenko measures the elemental composition of a dried Ugandan leaf sample.

Alex and Emily measure Eocene primate teeth.

UNC undergraduate student Alex Galloway and UNC alumna Emily Dzhinenko at the University of Wyoming’s Geology Museum measuring the elemental composition of Eocene primate teeth.

Alex Galloway measures the weening age of a horse tooth.

UNC undergraduate student Alex Galloway measures the strontium and calcium content of horse teeth to assess weening age and dietary changes through time.

dr. hamilton field work