The surfaces of structures and materials tell researchers important stories about how these items interacted with the environment or how the environment interacts with them. Understanding the patterns that the environment leaves on a surface can lead to new ideas about climate, prehistory, and can influence the development of new engineering materials. The instrument requested in this project, an optical surface profilometer, is a cutting-edge scientific tool that enables the measurement of these surface patterns with nanometer resolution. This new instrument will be used to develop a broad-based collaborative research program across colleges within The University of Tulsa (TU) and among other institutions of higher education in Oklahoma, including the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. The requested instrument will help to develop a regional center for research on surface wear on a broad range of materials such as tooth enamel, stone tools, ceramics, and coatings at TU. Graduate students and undergraduate students will be the primary operators of this instrument and access to this tool will give them valuable experience with cutting-edge research equipment. This type of experience is critical to train and inspire our future scientific and engineering leaders.
The research that this instrument will support spans topics from anthropology to mechanical engineering. Projects include imaging use wear on teeth to determine the diets of prehistoric animals, analysis of wear patterns on ancient tools to investigate how they were used and constructed, and the analysis of surfaces on advanced engineering materials that have been subjected to environmental exposure. One of the unique projects leverage a comprehensive collection of artifacts housed at TU that contains both lithic and bone items, all with experimental use wear. In addition, TU is affiliated with the world-renowned Gilcrease Museum, which has a significant New World archaeological collection, which will provide ample objects for study. With the anticipated opening of the Gilcrease Helmerich center for education and research in fall 2014, the instrument will be an integral part of TU's public outreach and community education, and will help to improve public understanding of science, technology, archaeology, evolution, and climate change. Some of the specific results that will be produced using the requested instrument include the following. By studying wear on the teeth of fossil mammals, researchers can infer what type of diet these animals ate. From this data, one can test hypotheses regarding the importance of diet as a selection process in evolution and reconstruct paleoecology to ask questions about climate change. The analysis of wear on stone tools and ceramics, both in modern and archaeological assemblages, will provide information on how these tools were manufactured, used and discarded. This provides insight into human social structure, trade and transport as well as cultural and ethnic identification. Modern materials are subjected to environmental degradation. Understanding this process, and how to prevent it, is vital to modern industry. By investigating the surfaces of these materials it is possible to better understand the degradation processes and work to improve materials to be resistant to degradation.
