Thermal Desorption Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Methods for Minimally Invasive Organic Residue Analysis of Archeological Potsherds.

ABSTRACT: Organic residue analysis (ORA) is widely used to investigate lipids preserved in archeological pottery. However, the amount of sample typically involved (2 g) precludes its application to particularly precious, small, or brittle sherds. This paper presents a novel, minimally invasive, protocol to overcome this limitation. By using a thermal separation probe (TSP) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), this approach utilizes thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation (THM), reducing sample sizes to as little as 1 mg. Testing with standard solutions and modern lipid-doped sherds confirmed that the method enables recovery of fatty acids (FAs) and determination of their carbon isotope compositions. The new approach was then validated using a range of archeological sherds p

SUBMITTER: Geddes da Filicaia E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12658860 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature