Nicole Casaccia

PhD student (39th cycle) in Cultural and Environmental Heritage, curriculum 2: Science and Technologies for Cultural Heritage

Research project: Collagen detection methods for radiocarbon dating of bone samples

The research focuses on testing non-destructive collagen detection methods for radiocarbon dating of bone samples. More precisely, newly developed spectrometric techniques (such as Near-Infrared spectroscopy) will be tested. These techniques are capable of predicting the presence of well-preserved collagen, before proceeding with bone sampling and chemical pretreatment. The main aim is to reduce the unnecessary damaging of precious bones at the bare minimum, thus minimising costs and time for radiocarbon laboratories.

The research takes place at the Bologna Radiocarbon laboratory devoted to Human Evolution (BRAVHO) at the Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician” of the University of Bologna.