Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry (University of Wisconsin)

Basic Information

The Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry (LARCH) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was established by Dr. T. Douglas Price (director of the laboratory until 2009) with a grant from the National Science Foundation in 1987. He was soon joined by Dr. James H. Burton as associate director. Burton is the current director of the laboratory.

Major Impact

In the quarter century since its establishment, LARCH has played a significant role in advancing archaeological and archaeometric research, developing new techniques of investigation, and training both graduate and undergraduate students.

Much of the work done at LARCH has focused on the use of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) atomic emission spectroscopy, ICP-optical emission spectroscopy, and ICP-mass spectroscopy, but they also have worked collaboratively with other laboratories to explore other analytical modalities including neutron activation analysis (with the University of Wisconsin Nuclear Reactor...