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Chromatography Today
June 11 2010
Analytical chemistry dates leather shoe as oldest ever
Thursday 10 June 2010
A leather shoe has been dated as the oldest in the world using
analytical chemistry techniques and accelerator mass spectrometry,
defying the scientists who found it and their predictions that it
would be between six and seven centuries old.
In fact, the footwear found in an Armenian cave is 5,500 years old - a
statistic verified through analytical chemistry in three different
ways.
Two of those ways applied mass spectrometry to date the leather of the
shoe, which was pre-treated with an acid-base-acid sequence, rinsed
then bleached before radiocarbon measurements were carried out.
For the third dating, grass found inside the shoe was subjected to a
similar process, providing independent support for the contemporaneity
of the sample.
Dr Ron Pinhasi, lead author of the research from University College
Cork in Ireland, says: "We thought initially that the shoe and other
objects were about 600-700 years old because they were in such good
condition."
It is thought that a layer of sheep dung in the cave where they were
found helped to preserve the shoe and the other items discovered
nearby.
http://www.chromatographytoday.com/news/electrophoretic-separations/35/breaking_news/analytical_chemistry_dates_leather_shoe_as_oldest_ ever/10323/
From: A. Papazian
June 11 2010
Analytical chemistry dates leather shoe as oldest ever
Thursday 10 June 2010
A leather shoe has been dated as the oldest in the world using
analytical chemistry techniques and accelerator mass spectrometry,
defying the scientists who found it and their predictions that it
would be between six and seven centuries old.
In fact, the footwear found in an Armenian cave is 5,500 years old - a
statistic verified through analytical chemistry in three different
ways.
Two of those ways applied mass spectrometry to date the leather of the
shoe, which was pre-treated with an acid-base-acid sequence, rinsed
then bleached before radiocarbon measurements were carried out.
For the third dating, grass found inside the shoe was subjected to a
similar process, providing independent support for the contemporaneity
of the sample.
Dr Ron Pinhasi, lead author of the research from University College
Cork in Ireland, says: "We thought initially that the shoe and other
objects were about 600-700 years old because they were in such good
condition."
It is thought that a layer of sheep dung in the cave where they were
found helped to preserve the shoe and the other items discovered
nearby.
http://www.chromatographytoday.com/news/electrophoretic-separations/35/breaking_news/analytical_chemistry_dates_leather_shoe_as_oldest_ ever/10323/
From: A. Papazian