Measuring...measuring...measuring...

Today I had another pXRF measuring day. However, I didn't enjoy being cooped up indoors since it was nice and sunny outside. While I love working with the pXRF (it can be a very useful analytical tool), when you are collecting lots of very similar spectra, it can be a bit like watching paint dry. This is especially true when you have a lot of samples to analyse before you can begin to process the data. The video shows one measurement being collected.

The current instrument set-up means that each measurement is 60 seconds long. This is long enough to get bored, but not long enough to do other work. Now imagine doing nearly 200 of these while you can see this view from the balcony at the end of the corridor...

Sometimes I do get asked to analyse random, non-ceramic, objects. These are things that have been found during the excavation, but we really have no idea what 'it' actually is. Today I had a small piece of metal, rectangular in shape. With no idea at all what it may have been (or been part of), I blasted it with the pXRF. I still have no idea what it is, but I do now know that it is made of iron and copper. I'll re-analyse it in more detail in the next couple of days, to see if I can get a better indication of what it may have been. Tomorrow, I'm off to sample clay in the southern part of the island, which will complete my road trip around the island. Then I'll spend the rest of my time here analysing and processing the subsequent pXRF data. Since tomorrow is the last day of the project for some of our team, we are hoping to have a party in the evening. I know that they'll be sad to leave, we've all had such an amazing journey. But to add to the precious memories that we've formed on the way, this evening (after finishing my many, many measurements), I was lucky enough to snap this pic of Rosanne and some of her new found helpers cleaning the last few ceramic finds from the site.