As a member organization of the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS), The Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS) once again played a central role in shaping the program at this year’s SciX conference in Raleigh, North Carolina in October. SAS members Andrew Zipkin and Mary Kate Donais co-chaired the Art & Archaeology Section together with graduate student Kristen Livingston.  Three invited speaker symposia were organized across two conference days: 1) Student Research in Archaeological Chemistry; 2) LA-ICP-MS Applications in Art and Archaeology; and 3) Imaging Technologies for Cultural Heritage. 

Kristen Livingston (University of Central Florida) organized and chaired the student research symposium and also presented her work with laser induced breakdown spectrometry analyses of comingled skeletal remains.  Other student presenters included Heidi Kastenholz (Duke University), who discussed her pump-probe microscopy investigations of carbon-based black pigments, and Moritz T. Zöllner (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), who presented his work with Raman spectroscopy as a thermometric tool for the analysis of carbonated in mortar binders. 

The LA-ICP-MS session, organized and chaired by Andrew Zipkin (EAG Laboratories), included five presentations: Laure Dussubieux (The Field Museum) who summarized 20 years of LA-ICP-MS research at the Field Museum, Adelphine Bonneau (Universite de Sherbrooke), who discussed trading networks of glass beads in the Province of Quebec, Nicola Sharratt (University of Georgia) presented on analyses of ceramics from southern Peru, Gry Barfod (Aarhus University) shared work on Viking age glass beads and drinking vessels, and Elizabeth Adeyemo (University of Notre Dame) discussed 7th – 13th Century West African ceramics. 

The third art and archaeology themed-session was organized by Roger Easton and Juilee Decker, both members of the Imaging Science Department at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), with five speakers addressing various uses of chemical imaging for cultural heritage analysis.  Juilee Decker and Roger Easton presented on MISHA, an RIT-designed low-cost multi-spectral imaging systems, and some of its exciting applications. PR Mukund (RIT) discussed applications of novel technologies to preserve ancient Hindu texts. Andrew Smith (Shepherds Theological Seminary) discussed how MISHA can be used to enhance textual data collection for Biblical manuscripts. Finally, Atia Newman (RIT) presented on the combination of traditional digital capture and video game creation techniques to produce interactive digital representations  of historic sites.

These three exciting, well-attended sessions were realized through the generous support of the following sponsors: Eurofins EAG Laboratories, SciAps Inc, Metrohm USA, Roger Easton, and The Society for Archaeological Sciences.