X-Ray Florescence Lab

X-Ray Florescence (XRF) is a technology that allows us to examine the elemental makeup of materials. We can apply this in so many ways to answer anthropological questions! The XRF@UNC lab has opportunities for students to get involved with hands-on research, supports student research projects, and collaborates with community organizations across Colorado and Wyoming. Interested in learning more? Contact Dr. Marian Hamilton (Marian.hamilton@unco.edu) with your research idea or to get involved with ongoing projects. 

Undergraduate instruction in XRF technology is supported by CARES Act funding through UNC. Ongoing XRF research is supported by a sponsored research grant from Bruker Nano.

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• These are some of the projects supported by the lab since Fall 2021:
  • Forensic Analysis of Teaching Collection Human Remains to Asses Diet and Origins
  • Determining the Diets and Identities of Primate Skulls from the UNC Biology Museum
  • Assessing Heavy Metals Contamination in Spices and Teas
  • Assessing how Trace Elements Vary in Skeletons with and without Evidence of Metabolic Disease
  • Jurassic Jigsaw; Site Matching through Trace Element Analysis at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center (WDC)
  • Determining Aariation in the Strontium-Calcium Ratios of Ugandan Plants
  • Differentiating Frugivores and Folivores Among Ugandan Primates 
  • Dietary analysis of Early North American primate teeth (in collaboration with the University of Wyoming’s Geology Museum)
  • Measurements of Sr/Ca Ratios in Horse Teeth related to Weening, Dietary Change, and Climate (in collaboration with UC Boulder’s Archeological Museum) 
  • Measuring Iron Concentrations in Individuals with Cribra Orbitalia and Porotic Hyperostosis Using XRF - McNair Scholars project by Eduardo Maya
  • Determining Dietary Niche in Primates Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence - McNair Scholars project by Theresa Schwartz 
  • Identification of toxins in archeological artifacts 

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