The purpose of this research was to develop a new method of analyzing organic residues left on Native American pottery using standard Raman spectroscopy. Native American pottery was replicated using terra cotta and maple syrup was boiled in each of the pots using boiling stones. The pottery shards were then analyzed using Raman spectroscopy. Shards of pottery with maple syrup residue were compared to the standards and the syrup residue was not only detected, but also matched to compounds in the instrument library. Typically, the study of Native American pottery has been done in a variety of different ways, many of which require advanced instrumentation. However, as many universities do not have access to that level of instrumentation, this study demonstrates that the same type of analysis can also be done using standard Raman spectroscopy.

Detection and determination of food residues in Native American pottery

255th National Meeting (2018)

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