Eastern Michigan University Professor Ruth Ann Armitage
has heard the comparisons to Indiana Jones before.
They are not surprising, considering she just returned
from a trek via mule across rivers in the remote jungle
of Nicaragua to explore a cave that may hold the secrets
of a long-lost civilization.
"It sounds like a bad Raiders movie," said Armitage with
a laugh. "For most chemists, it's all about the lab. We
hang out and make stuff."
 |
HANDPRINT INSPECTION: Ruth Ann Armitage,
an
EMU chemistry professor, and her husband,
Dan
Fraser, a professor at Lourdes College in Ohio,
inspect
what appear to be painted handprints
on a cave wall
in Nicaragua. The two took samples
in January and
are analyzing them in the lab
to determine what they
are and how old they might
be. Photo by Suzanne Baker
|
Armitage said that most people who know about her travels
are surprised to find out that she is a chemistry professor,
not an archeologist like Dr. Jones.
"I'm an analyst," said Armitage, who is one of only three
scientists to work on the cave project.
And the only way to insure the integrity of what she analyzes
is to obtain the samples and bring them back to the lab.
Armitage and her husband, Dan Fraser, a professor at Lourdes
College in Ohio, traveled to the cave in January 2009 to
take samples of the paintings on its walls.
The cave art included the red outline of a hand and some
faces carved in flowstones.
"It's the only known cave (in the entire country) with
paintings (on the walls)," said Armitage. "We want to find
out what the drawings are made of and try and figure out
how long they have been there."
To do that, Armitage said that they took several samples
about the size of a quarter or smaller. The process entails
taking the samples back to her lab at EMU and burning the
paint sample to separate the organic material in the "paint" from
the inorganic wall. A chemical analysis reveals what was
used to stain the wall.
After that, the sample is sent as a tube of gas to another
lab to be radiocarbon dated.
"No one has ever radiocarbon dated this particular rock
art!" Armitage said.
Armitage said that the first results should start to come
back during the summer.
"We want to get the information published so that archeologists
can benefit and that will help drum up funding to do real
in-the-dirt archeology," said Armitage.
There are many theories about what the cave art could
be, said Armitage.
"We don't know that it's not graffiti," she said. "But
it could be some kind of ritual cave. Caves had connections
to death and fertility and things ancient civilizations
didn't understand."
Don't look for Armitage's exploits on the National Geographic
Network anytime soon.
"There is practically no money in this and science is
about the funding. There is so little money available for
projects right now," said Armitage, who helped fund her
trip with a faculty fellowship from EMU.
There is a reward, though.
"This was a cultural experience. To see the past and the
present, and trying to connect the two is exciting," Armitage
said.
