Analysis of Smoke Plants using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in Archaeological Residue Analysis

Abstract

Smoking pipes are often recovered during archaeological excavations, and the prevalence of this artifact makes it clear that smoking is a human activity that dates back at least four millennia. However, the plants that were smoked using these early pipes and the time period during which tobacco became the most commonly smoked plant remain unknown. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is particularly useful for analyzing archaeological residues, where it can be used to identify compounds persisting within the matrix of archaeological smoking pipe fragments for millennia, including nicotine, a biomarker for tobacco. While tobacco detection techniques are relatively straightforward, protocol for the detection of other smoke plants like mint, wormwood, mugwort, and cedar is less developed because their chemical footprints have not yet been thoroughly described. This study used GC-MS techniques to analyze various plant extracts and investigate their chemical nature. Plant samples were also experimentally combusted to simulate the smoking process, and combustion products were identified. By analyzing smoke plants and their combustion products, this study aimed to better define plants' chemical footprints so that more plant species can be identified in archaeological pipe residues using GCMS.