Archaeometry

Overview of the basic principles and usage of the following methods in archaeology:

Methods of geophysical survey:
- geophysical methods in archaeological prospection (geoelectrical resistance methods, magnetic methods, electromagnetic methods, seismic methods and thermic methods), physical models of different types of archaeological remains in various real archaeological and natural contexts,
- direct and inverted methods of interpretation used in different geophysical methods, »multi-method approach« and complementarity of the methods and interpretative procedures.

Methods of physical and chemical analyses:
- microscopy (polarization microscopy, roentgen diffractometry and differential thermal analysis),
- petrographic analyses of non-metal archaeological materials, determining source location of artefacts and materials,
- archaeometallurgic surveys (waste products, metallography),
- dating methods (radiocarbon dating (C-14), uranium-thorium dating and potassium-argon dating, thermoluminescence, electron spin resonance, counting of radioactive tracers, archaeomagnetic dating),
- chemical methods (amino acid racemisation, obsidian hydration, FUN technique),
- searching for similarities between objects (X-ray fluorescence and PIXE),
- nuclear methods (neutron activation analysis, proton induced gamma rays, isotope analysis),
- optical and mass spectroscopy.