Advances in the Chemical Analysis of Prehistoric Materials

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is dedicated to an integrated multi-analytical approach, where numerous analytical techniques (structural, morphological, and compositional) combined together can extract useful information from prehistoric artworks. This field of investigation offers insights into analytical chemistry, particularly the science of phase separations (gas chromatography, especially for the identification of volatile substances contained in samples of prehistoric resins and archaeological adhesives). Disciplines such as archaeobotany are also closely involved and correlated with this field of research. Through technical and scientific support, archaeologists can undoubtedly benefit from the study of human civilizations and their traditions and cultures, as well as trace their movements and migratory flows to reconstruct the history of humanity from prehistory to the most recent era. Furthermore, from a molecular point of view, gas chromatography also allows us to trace substances (contained in archaeological resins and adhesives) and identify their decomposition and chemical degradation processes, correlating them also to the environmental conditions of the sampling site and to archaeobotany, which offers very useful indications on the provenance of these natural substances and their composition.

Prof. Dr. Federica Valentini
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.