ARCHAEOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY—EXPLORING HISTORY WITH CHEMISTRY - Chemistry: Notable Research and Discoveries - page 167

Ruins of the ancient city known as Troy, for example, are believed
to lie beneath the rubble of later cities at a site called Hissarlik in Tur-
key. These multiple layers confused the German archaeologist Hein-
rich Schliemann (1822-90) as he excavated the site in the 19th century,
searching for relics of the famous Trojan War with the Greeks. This war
is described in the epic Iliad, attributed to the Greek poet Homer, but
its historical accuracy is debatable. Further excavations of this site have
found evidence of warfare around the time the events in the Iliad sup-
posedly took place, probably 3,000-3,500 years ago. But this is hardly
surprising, since war was common in this era. No one knows if the Tro-
jan War as related by Homer really happened, and the ancient Trojans
cannot offer much help—their language is currently unknown.
Egypt is the site of another civilization that has a long and glorious
past. The pyramids at Giza stand as prominent reminders of a venerable
culture, and they are so old that ancient Greeks such as Herodotus (ca.
484-425 b.c.e.) marveled at them. But the language carved on monu-
ments or found on old documents made of papyrus was a mysterious
set of symbols known as hieroglyphics. Researchers made great strides
in understanding ancient Egypt when a French Army officer discovered
a stone in 1799 at Rosetta (Rashid), an Egyptian port city. This stone
contained a passage in three different languages—hieroglyphics, de-
motic script (another type of Egyptian writing), and Greek. The passage
described an edict issued in 196 b.c.e. Since linguists can understand
Greek, the stone provided a key to translating hieroglyphics.
Written records provide a valuable glimpse into the thoughts and
behavior of ancient peoples. But these records are not complete and
omit important information (important, that is, to historians). Scien-
tists studying the past have had to turn to other sources such as analyz-
ing artifacts. Archaeological finds are a rich source of information, if
that information can be unlocked. The need is to find a “Rosetta stone”
for other types of artifacts—a method of gleaning all the information
that is available.
Chemistry offers a reliable method of extracting information from
a large variety of archaeological finds. Some of the most important of
these are human remains. Human remains from ancient times are usu-
ally skeletons, as the soft tissues of the body decompose quickly. But
in Egypt and a few other places, archaeologists have discovered more
complete samples. Wealthy Egyptians, believing in an afterlife that re-
quired maintenance of the body, were often preserved after death. These