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Through Chemistry Joseph B. Lambert Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois Chemistry serves archaeology in a number of different ways. The chemical composition of an inorganic artifact such as pottery or glass can help determine whether it is authentic, how it was made, when it was made, where its raw materials came from, and over what routes it was traded. Organic artifacts are more difficult to analyze, but nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy permits some of these same questions to be answered. Compositional analysis of bone can provide information about ancient diet. Chemistry also can help locate new archaeological sites and help preserve artifacts that have been excavated.