Identification of Suspected Horn from the Queen Anne's Revenge (1718), North Carolina, USA

Infrared spectroscopy can be a valuable tool for conservators and archaeologists to help identify archaeological artefacts. We present a case-study on the identification of an artefact recovered by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR) Underwater Archaeology Branch from an early-18th-century shipwreck (31CR314). The wreck is assumed to be the remains of Queen Anne's Revenge, which sank off the North Carolina coast in 1718. A sample of the artefact was analysed by infrared spectroscopy to identify it. Prior to spectroscopic analysis it was speculated that the sample could be animal horn or leather. © 2011 The Authors