Food, beverages, perfumes and much more. Organic substances in archaeological finds

Journal title RENDICONTI
Author/s Silvia Bruni
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2025/2
Language Italian Pages 14 P. 37-50 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/rndoa2025oa21155
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Among the numerous materials that can be found in an archaeological site, the so-called organic residues, i.e. remains of materials mainly made up of carbon compounds, represent a very interesting class for the reconstruction of the knowledge and uses of a given population. At the same time, nevertheless, they represent a challenge for those involved in chemical analysis. Indeed, if a large variety of materials are encountered, ranging from food to ointments or adhesives and more, the residues themselves can be massive, but more often present only as traces not visible to the naked eye, for example absorbed into the walls of ceramic vessels. The present text intends to offer a survey of the main classes of archaeological organic residues, highlighting how modern instrumental chemical analysis techniques allow their identification with notable sensitivity and specificity.

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Silvia Bruni, Cibi, bevande, profumi e molto altro. Le sostanze organiche nei reperti archeologici in "RENDICONTI" 2/2025, pp 37-50, DOI: 10.3280/rndoa2025oa21155