ASIL comprises a wet chemistry laboratory equipped with a fume hood and working areas for preparing archaeological and modern materials—such as bones, teeth, hair, plants, and charred seeds—for multi-stable isotope analysis. ASIL also includes a climate-controlled instrumentation room housing analytical equipment for measuring bulk and compound-specific stable isotopes, a weighing room for the precision weighing of samples for isotope ratio mass spectrometry, and a separate, vented oven room for sample ashing and lyophilization. ASIL is authorized to handle plant and soil materials originating from outside the European Union, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/2031.
Preparation equipment
Drilling
- Several drilling stations with dental drill bits, blades, hand tools and stationary devices (Proxxon, Dremel)
- Glove box
Homogenization
- Oscillation mill (Retsch, MM400)
- Tube mill with disposable grinding chambers (IKA, Tube Mill control, 5000-25000rpm, 40ml)
Drying/Heating/Muffle equipment
- Freeze dryer (Labconco, FreeZone 7750030 Benchtop)
- Laboratory furnace (Nabertherm, L9/11/B180; 1100°C)
- Drying cabinet (Thermo, Heratherm OSG100, 250°C)
- Vacuum drying oven (Thermo, VT6025; 200°C)
- Precision hotplate (Gestigkeit, PZ 28-2SR; 350°C)
- Block heaters (VWR, Digital dry block heaters, 2 blocks, 120°C)
- Nitrogen evaporators (Thermo, Reacti-Vap 9- and 27-port)
Centrifuges
- Centrifuge with fixed-angle rotor (Eppendorf, 5804, 14000rpm, 20913xg)
- Benchtop swinging-bucket centrifuge (Eppendorf, MiniSpin plus, 14500rpm, 14100xg)
- Mini centrifuges (Sprout, 6000rpm, 2000xg)
Ultrasonic bath
- Ultrasonic cleaner, large (VWR, USC900D, 9.2 L, 80°C, 45kHz)
- Ultrasonic cleaner, small (EMAG, Emmi 08STH, 0.8 L, 80°C, 45kHz)
Balances
- Microbalance (Sartorius, MSA3.6P, 3100mg, 0.001mg
- Analytical balance (OHAUS, PIONEER, PA2102C, 2100g, 0.01g)
- Analytical balance (OHAUS, PIONEER, PA114, 110g, 0.0001g)
Microscopes
- Stereo microscope with camera (Nikon, SMZ-755T)
- Zoom stereo microscopes (Olympus, SZ51)
Water purification system
- Purifier (ELGA, PURELAB Quest) delivering ultrapure water (Type I: 18.2 MΩ.cm), pure water (Type II: >1 MΩ.cm), and RO-permeate water (Type III: 20 μS.cm)
Analytical equipment
Isoprime visION IRMS coupled to a vario PYRO cube EA
- Carbon, nitrogen and sulphur concentrations and stables isotopes of organic matter
- Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes of organic matter
Isoprime visION IRMS coupled to an Agilent 7890B and GC5 combustion oven
- Compound-specific stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of amino acids
Agilent 8890 Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector
Picarro L2130i Cavity Ringdown Spectrometer
- Oxygen and deuterium stable isotopes in leaf water using the induction module
Bruker Alpha II ATR-FTIR-Spectrometer
- Structural and chemical analysis of organic and inorganic materials