MicroCT Rotating Target and a Holiday Fruit Cake

In the Sustainable Archaeology Ancient Images Lab, we've been performing proof of concept tests using the rotating target on the microCT. The rotating target enables the user to "up" the flux (amount of power) that can be delivered to the target, without degrading the spot size - essentially allowing for faster scanning without compromising the excellent resolution of the machine. This give us the ability to greatly increase the amount of power we can use in a scan, allowing us to scan very dense objects, including meteorites, or, holiday fruit cake!

Special thank you to Hope Miles for providing the delicious fruit cake!

Happy Holidays from Sustainable Archaeology

This week wraps up the end of the year for Sustainable Archaeology, and marks the project's third holiday season. Two years ago (December 2012) building of the facility was delayed by the heavy snowfall that buried London early in the month, and the materials for the pre-fab building had only just arrived before the Christmas break. In 2011, we had only had occupancy of the building for a few months, and while things were really starting to wrap up in terms of the facility's construction, without furniture, or most of our major lab equipment, it still felt quite empty and unoccupied in the new building. As of December 2012, SA-Western has been occupied for over a year, and with the additions of furniture, imaging equipment, as well as staff, students, and other researchers working in the building on a regular basis, this December couldn't feel more different!

In 2013, we're looking forward to the continued development of our database, and to exciting new projects by students and other researchers. We'll continue to publish our bi-monthly newsletter, Notes from the SA and look forward to sharing more projects, research and updates from Sustainable Archaeology with you during the coming year. Until then, we'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday, and best wishes for 2013!

Notes from the SA - December/January Edition

The December 2012/January 2013 edition of Notes from the SA, our Sustainable Archaeology newsletter is out!