  We performed food residue analysis of cook-stones from experimental and
prehistoric earth ovens using a handheld Raman spectrometry. Progress in modern
optical technology provides a facile means of rapid non-destructive
identification of residue artifacts from archaeological sites. For this study
spectral signatures were obtained on sotol (Dasylirion spp.) experimentally
baked in an earth oven as well as sotol residue on an experimentally used
processing tool. Inulin was the major residue component. The portable handheld
Raman spectrometer also detected traces of inulin on boiling stones used to
boil commercially obtained inulin. The Raman spectra of inulin and sotol may be
useful as signatures of wild plant residues in archaeology. Spectroscopic
analysis of millennia-old cook-stones from prehistoric archaeological sites in
Fort Hood, TX revealed the presence of residues whose further identification
requires improvement of current optical methods.
