Jeannette Jacqueline Lucejko

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Pisa

This work examined the chemical interrelations between melamine–formaldehyde (MF) and waterlogged archaeological wood to demonstrate the effect of the MFtreatment on cultural heritage objects. Samples from a Roman waterlogged trunk of Greek fir, were analyzed with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), solid-state ¹³C Nuclear Magnetic Reso...

The COST EU-PoTaRCh Action establishes a network focused on the past, present, and future significance, production, and use of major forest by-products in Europe and beyond. The Action centers around forest by-products—primarily potash, tar, resin, and charcoal (PoTaRCh), along with plant extracts—which have been produced and utilized for over 100,...

Additive manufacturing (AM) holds great potential for processing natural polymer hydrogels into 3D scaffoldsexploitable for tissue engineering and in vitro tissue modelling. The aim of this research activity was to assess thesuitability of computer-aided wet-spinning (CAWS) for AM of hyaluronic acid (HA)/chitosan (Cs) polyelectrolytecomplex (PEC) h...

The aim of this paper is to characterize materials belonging to one of the masks coming from the Lord of Ucupe's tomb in the region of Lambayeque in Peru. The mask belongs to the Moche culture which lived in the north of Peru since 100 CE. Along with the study of the extraordinary metal alloy technique using X-ray fluorescence (ED XRF) integrated w...

Usage patterns are one of the leading research issues in archaeological pottery studies. Non-cinerary vessels deposited in burials of the Lusatian Urnfield are particularly intriguing since they did not typically undergo detailed functional analysis. Their function has usually been determined based on the shape and surface treatment. Thus, grave po...

From the Pioneer Era of the aviation to World War I the evolution of aircraft technology and chemical synthesis enabled a unique coexistence of traditional craftsmanship, artistic decoration practices, and technological advancements. The study of the materials used in these early years of aviation is still an uncharted territory: a vast portion of...

The determination of carbohydrate composition is extremely important for quality control in food and beverages, in material science, in pharmaceutics, and in the field of cultural heritage. Considering the complexity and the heterogeneity of the matrices, the optimization of extraction and purification steps aiming at maximizing the saccharide reco...

Organic Electronics In article number 2200285, Mihai Irimia-Vladu, Alessandra Operamolla and co-workers demonstrate the successful use of kraft lignin, the waste biopolymer produced by pulp mills, as the dielectric material for organic field effect transistors. This work represents an example of a circular economy applied to organic electronics.

Lignin is an abundant biopolymer deriving from industrial pulping processes of lignocellulosic biomass. Despite the huge amount of yearly produced lignin waste, it finds scarce application as a fine material and is usually destined to be combusted in thermochemical plants to feed, with low efficiency, other industrial processes. So far, the use of...

The archaeological site of Adulis lays on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea and during Late antiquity played a significant role in interregional commerce among the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean coasts. Contacts with the Eastern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula and the Sasanian world have been attested from different classes of pottery...

Archaeological wooden objects can be preserved for millennia in waterlogged environments where the action of primary biodegradation agents is limited. When wooden artifacts are removed from the waterlogged environment specific stabilization or consolidation treatments are needed to prevent damage during drying.The consolidant fills the gaps of cell...

The aim of the current work is twofold: to demonstrate the application of in situ non-invasive imaging by portable atomic force microscopy (AFM) on the surfaces of a violin and to integrate compositional and mechanical analysis at the nano scale level on model samples of varnished wood. These samples were prepared according to traditional recipes b...

Environmental conditions present in mines generally are very favourable to decay; high temperature, high humidity, variable oxygen content, numerous metal-wood connections and the presence of a high content of inorganic compounds typical of mines have a significant impact on the biotic and abiotic degradation factors. The state of conservation of w...

We investigated the effects of solvent fractionation on the chemical structures of two commercial technical lignins. We compared the effect of Soxhlet and Kumagawa extraction. The aim of this work was to compare the impact of the methods and of the solvents on lignin characteristics. Our investigation confirmed the potentialities of fractionation t...

Over the last few decades, chemical and physical studies on bowed string musical instruments have provided a better understanding of their wooden finished surface. Nevertheless, until now only a few of them investigated the effects of the chemical pre-treatments in the traditional making procedures. Those treatments are believed to affect wood prop...

StAr project - Development of Storage and assessment methods suited for organic archaeological artefacts – started in 2020 within the framework of Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPI-CH) Conservation, Protection and Use. The project arises from the need for chemical-physical stabilization strategies of archaeolo...

The archaeological site of Adulis lays on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea and during Late antiquity played a significant role in interregional commerce among the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean coasts. Contacts with the Eastern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula and the Sasanian world have been attested from different classes of pottery...

Present-day archaeology focuses on the context of finds, on detailed analyses of minor variables and, to a greater and greater degree, makes use of methods offered by pure and natural sciences and interdisciplinary subdisciplines. Hypotheses and interpretations that are based on such sources make researchers verify many statements that can be found...

The grave from Gokstad in Norway, dating to ca 900 AD, is one of the best-preserved Viking Age ship graves in the world. The grave mound contained a variety of goods along with human remains, buried in a Viking ship. Several textiles, including embroideries and shreds of what might have been the ship’s tent, were also found. The colors of the texti...

This work is part of a larger study, which aims to use soda lignin from straw as the starting point for a non-aqueous consolidant for highly degraded archaeological wood from the Oseberg collection. This wood was treated with alum salts in the early 1900s, is actively degrading and exists in varying states of preservation. Non-aqueous consolidants...

From the mid-1800s to the late 1960s, conservation by alum salts (KAl(SO 4 ) 2 ·12H 2 O—potassium aluminium sulphate), using various recipes, was a common method to prevent shrinkage and to strengthen waterlogged archaeological wooden objects. This method was mainly used in Scandinavia. The alum method appears to have also been applied to highly de...

This review describes the capability of analytical pyrolysis-based techniques to provide data on lignin composition and on the chemical alteration undergone by lignin in archaeological wooden objects. Applications of Direct Exposure Mass Spectrometry (DE-MS), Evolved Gas Analysis Mass Spectrometry (EGA-MS), and single and double-shot Pyrolysis-Gas...

Erosion bacteria are the main degraders of archaeological wood excavated from waterlogged environments. Light microscopy and analytical pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) were exploited to study waterlogged archaeological wood ( Pinus sylvestris L.) at different stages of bacterial decay. The research explored th...

Analytical pyrolysis-gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry with in situ silylation using hexamethyldisilazane (Py(HMDS)-GC/MS) was employed to study a set of ancient Egyptian papyri. The aim was to investigate their chemical alteration patterns and to obtain information regarding the degradation pathways affecting them. In ancient Egypt...

Finds of early medieval pendants, known as kaptorgas, are not common in Poland. For this reason, the kaptorga found in 1957 in Opole (Silesia), in southwest Poland, is all the more interesting. The artefact is housed in a museum, and on the occasion of its re-conservation, permission to conduct archaeometric studies was given. The kaptorga was subj...

People in north-east Brazil mostly rely on fuelwood and charcoal for domestic energy consumption. Traditionally, four local wood taxa (Mimosa tenuiflora, Mimosa ophthalmocentra, Croton sonderianus and Cenostigma pyramidale) from the caatinga have been selected for this purpose. As the final quality of charcoal is directly related to the charring co...

Abstract During the Classical Period (300 BC–400 AD), the Indian Ocean emerged as one of the largest hubs of ancient international trade. For a long period, these contacts were described from a Rome-centric point of view, looking at the connections between Rome and India. However, recent studies have demonstrated that the Roman-Indo connection was...

The open-air Archaeological Museum in Biskupin (Poland) preserves and shows to the public a prehistoric settlement of Lusatian culture dating back to Early Iron Age (eighth century BC). The monitoring of the environment and dynamics of the wood degradation in the burial conditions at the site is fundamental for the in situ preservation of archaeolo...

The volume presents results of two-year project : multi-aspect analysis of four late Bronze Age deposits placed in ceramic vessels and containing metal tools, weapons and ornaments. The linear arrangement of the hoards is extraordinary and the landscape studies in the deposit area indicate that they were related to the place of forcing the wide Bar...

Abstract Alum-treatment was extensively applied to archaeological wood from the Oseberg collection in the early 1900s, and was a common conservation method at the time involving impregnating objects with hot concentrated solutions of potassium alum (KAl(SO4)2⋅12H2O). This now obsolete consolidation method has led to dramatic long-term consequences,...

The archaeological site of Hierapolis (Denizli, Turkey), one of the great Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine cities of southwestern Turkey, protected by UNESCO since 1988, was built in the third century B.C. Even if damaged several times by earthquakes, it has survived for millennia. During antiquity, Hierapolis was a famous pilgrimage destination, t...

Hafting of stone tools was an important advance in the technology of the Paleolithic. Evidence of hafting in the Middle Paleolithic is growing and is not limited to points hafted on spears for thrusting or throwing. This article describes the identification of adhesive used for hafting on a variety of stone tools from two Middle Paleolithic caves i...

Abstract From the mid-1800s to the late 1950s, conservation by alum salts (aluminum potassium sulfate dodecahydrate)—with some variations—was a routine method for treating highly deteriorated waterlogged archaeological wood in many countries, especially in Scandinavia. It was eventually replaced by newer methods in the 1960s, such as that using pol...

Samples of conserved archaeological wood of different ages, origins, and conservation histories were aged in a climate chamber for seven months, while the humidity alternated between 30% RH for 12 hours and 80% RH for 12 hours at a constant temperature of 30°C. Photographs were taken once every hour, which enabled the creation of a time-lapse movie...

A comprehensive picture of the chemical composition and structure of the acyl-glycerides from ergot (fungi of the genus Claviceps) sclerotia was carried out using liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-Q-ToF) following microwave solvent extraction. The method allowed us to study the chemical structures of >7...

Having thrived in Eurasia for 350,000 years Neandertals disappeared from the record around 40,000–37,000 years ago, after modern humans entered Europe. It was a complex process of population interactions that included cultural exchanges and admixture between Neandertals and dispersing groups of modern humans. In Europe Neandertals are always associ...

OSL dating of Grotta La Fabbrica and Colle Rotondo. (DOCX)

X-ray diffraction and chemical analysis. (DOCX)

Permissions from copyright holders. (PDF)

The archaeological site of Biskupin (Poland) is a prehistoric settlement dating to the 8th century BC, situated on a marshy island. Excavations started in 1934 and a considerable number of wooden artifacts were found in the lake water. Unfortunately, during many years of archaeological excavations, wooden remains deposited in the trenches were expo...

Cereals were very important in ancient diets, however evidence from archaeological sites of the vessels used for processing or storing cereals is comparatively rare. Micro-organisms, as well as chemical-physical effects can easily degrade cereals during the burial period. This can lead to a complete cereal decay and to serious difficulties in estim...

The Viking Age wooden artefacts recovered in the early 1900s from the Oseberg mound (Norway) and treated with alum, are today highly degraded. This is due to the effects of the alum-treatment and the reactivity of alum and alum-derived salts [1]. Some of the artefacts from the Oseberg collection that were treated with alum were also coated with a d...

This study analyzed the effect of low sulfur dioxide concentrations on the chromatic properties, phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of Aglianico red wines with respect to wines produced from conventional winemaking. We determined the phytochemical composition by spectrophotometric methods and HPLC-DAD analysis and the in vitro antio...

An in-depth investigation was undertaken of the chemical changes to wood induced by degrading agents in dry burial environments. The degradation state of eleven wood samples from dry archaeological sites in Egypt was evaluated by combining the information obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wet chemical analysis (WCA), attenuated total...

Twenty three samples of Egyptian organic materials, spanning from the Old Kingdom to the Copto-Byzantine Period, were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The sample set was comprised of ten balm samples from human mummies, three balms from shrews, and ten samples of residues scraped from jars and amphora from storehouses. This res...

Wood artefacts undergo complex alteration and degradation during ageing, and gaining information on the chemical composition of wood in archaeological artefacts is fundamental to plan conservation strategies. In this work, an integrated analytical approach based on innovative NMR spectroscopy procedures, gel permeation chromatography and analytical...

The Oseberg collection includes the most complete ensemble of wooden remains from the Viking Age. However, since many of the wooden objects were treated with alum in the early 1900s, they now suffer from dramatic conservation issues. A multi-analytical approach was adopted to investigate both the organic and the inorganic components of some selecte...

Cellulosic pulp was analysed after two and five years of natural ageing in two different burial environments - lake water and peat soil - in order to investigate the chemical and structural changes undergone by the material. This research is part of a monitoring program developed in the archaeological site of Biskupin, whose final aim is to estimat...

Chemically evaluating the state of preservation of archaeological wood in the presence of consolidating agents, such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), can be challenging. Interpreting the results obtained by the most commonly used single-shot pyrolysis method coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry with in situ silylation (Py(HMDS)-GC/MS)...

Pargeter and colleagues do not escape the dangers inherent in the exercise they embark on. The first is that of creating a straw man argument in which one exaggerates and misinterprets what was said in the article being criticised. The second is that of using your time to look at the speck of dust in your brother's eye instead of paying attention t...

The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of a microbiological consortium, in particular mycorrhizal fungi, on the phytochemical composition and on the antioxidant properties of Sangiovese wines with respect to wines from conventional agriculture, paying particular attention to their oxidative stability following oxygen exposure.We determined...

Analytical pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry with in situ silylation using hexamethyldisilazane (Py(HMDS)-GC/MS) was used to investigate the chemical alteration patterns of a set of archaeological waterlogged oak and silver fir woods. The samples were collected from five piles removed from stilt houses found in a Neoli...

Evolved gas analysis-mass spectrometry (EGA-MS) was used for the first time to study archaeological wood, in order to investigate its chemical degradation. The archaeological wood was from an oak pile from a stilt house found in the Neolithic ‘La Marmotta’ village (Lake Bracciano, Rome, Italy). The sampling was performed from the external to the in...

A multidisciplinary investigation of some open-air manufactured rocky blocks (both of Proto-historic and Medieval Age) found in the archaeological site of Pietralba (Arezzo, Italy) was performed. The Pietralba blocks display different typologies: a rectangular tub, an L-shaped tub, a throne, and a pyramid. Their study has been approached from the g...

The classification of archaeological assemblages in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa in terms of diversity and temporal continuity has significant implications with respect to recent cultural evolutionary models which propose either gradual accumulation or discontinuous, episodic processes for the emergence and diffusion of cultural traits. We...

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, proteomic and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analyses of residue on a stone flake from a 49,000 year-old layer of Sibudu (South Africa) indicate a mixture of ochre and casein from milk, likely obtained by killing a lactating wild bovid. Ochre powder production a...

Eight samples of ca. 3000 year old oak wood from the Biskupin site and a piece of sound oak (Quercus sp.) wood were analysed. The degradation state of archaeological oak wood was investigated using two analytical approaches: classical wet chemical analysis and analytical pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) wit...

Historically, a very large variety of everyday artifacts were made of wood, which makes them representative of their historical period or social context, and valuable for archaeologists and historians. In order to preserve degraded wood and to develop and apply suitable conservation treatments, chemical and physical characterization of archaeologic...

The House of the Telephus Relief in Herculaneum (Naples, Italy) is a Roman domus, buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The house had a wooden roof with decorated ceiling, which was discovered in 2009. The roof represents an extraordinary archaeological find and, although it was found mainly disassembled, some of its wooden decorative...

Chemical characterization is a valuable tool for assessing the decay of archaeological or historical degraded wood it and is essential in selecting the most appropriate conservation techniques. This paper reports the results on archaeological waterlogged wood remains from the roof of a Roman villa buried in AD 79 by the eruption of Vesuvius. Parts...

In archaeology, the discovery of ancient medicines is very rare, as is knowledge of their chemical composition. In this paper we present results combining chemical, mineralogical, and botanical investigations on the well-preserved contents of a tin pyxis discovered onboard the Pozzino shipwreck (second century B.C.). The contents consist of six fla...

Recent archaeological discoveries have revealed that pigment use, beads, engravings, and sophisticated stone and bone tools were already present in southern Africa 75,000 y ago. Many of these artifacts disappeared by 60,000 y ago, suggesting that modern behavior appeared in the past and was subsequently lost before becoming firmly established. Most...

The macromolecular complexity of wood limits the possibility of obtaining complete chemical information on its alteration in archaeological objects. This paper compares the results obtained in the characterisation of the components of archaeological wood by a classical wet chemical method and by an instrumental method based on pyrolysis in presence...

A combination of analytical pyrolysis with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) was used to study the chemical composition and level of decay of wood objects from the historical site of the Wieliczka salt mine (Poland). The site has been on UNESCO's First World List of Cultural and Natural Heritage since 1978. The wood is located und...

The transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA) in South Africa was not associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans and the extinction of Neandertals, as in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Western Europe. It has therefore attracted less attention, yet it provides insights into patterns of t...

Recent archaeological discoveries have revealed that pigment use, beads, engravings, and sophisticated stone and bone tools were already present in southern Africa 75,000 y ago. Many of these artifacts disappeared by 60,000 y ago, suggesting that modern behavior appeared in the past and was subsequently lost before becoming firmly established. Most...