Chemical advances for archaeological research
Distinguished researcher at the Department of Prehistory, Archaeology and Ancient History of the University of Valencia
My name is Gianni Gallello, and I am a distinguished researcher at the Department of Prehistory, Archaeology and Ancient History of the University of Valencia. I specialise in the chemical analysis of ancient remains.
My team’s activity focuses on the development of tools for archaeologists. We work on new technologies and applications that complement existing information from archaeological or cultural heritage records. Chemistry is our ally in this.
Using chemistry, we have been able to incorporate new markers that had not been used in archaeology until now, such as rare earths (a series of chemical elements found in the natural environment). Rare earths have favoured a very rapid development of new tools; thanks to them we can find very valuable information about the remains we study: they give us information about what kind of activity was done in the area of the find and they allow us to know how humans contributed to the formation of the archaeological strata.
Today, our research is internationally recognised, and this recognition began when we worked at archaeological sites of such importance as Pompeii. There, in the framework of a collaboration between Valencian archaeologists, we worked for the first time with casts. These are materials, such as bones, found during excavations at the site. The gap left by these bones once they have been extracted is filled with lime, thereby representing the moment when the inhabitants died as a result of the eruption of Vesuvius.
One of the most important questions that has been asked about Pompeii was whether it was possible to identify the temperature to which people were exposed in order to determine the cause of death more accurately, because not all of them died of high temperatures, some died of asphyxiation. To investigate this, we went in with equipment, including our portable X-ray machine, to measure the bones and the lime. We created a model with the results and cross-checking them with volcanological and anthropological data gave us new information about the cause of death. Until then, this device had never been used to determine the temperature.
We have worked in other places around the world, such as India, Tanzania, Ethiopia, or the Amazon, and also locally, in projects in the Region of Valencia.
Each year is different, depending on the project, but we always combine fieldwork (usually 2 to 4 campaigns in a year) with laboratory work and museum work with our portable equipment. We also dedicate a significant part of our time to academic work, researcher training, and dissemination activities such as conferences, seminars, and workshops in Valencia high schools.
Interview conducted by Marta Gutiérrez and Anna Mateu. Edited by Marta Gutiérrez.
