Analysis of oil used in late Roman oil lamps with different mass spectrometric techniques revealed the presence of predominantly olive oil together with traces of animal fat

The lipid fraction of residues in ancient oil lamps found at the archaeolog ical site of Sagalassos (south-west Turkey) was analysed by gas chromatogra phy (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS). The identification of plant ste rols and long chain alcohols suggested that a vegetable oil was used in the se lamps. The lipid sample was also analysed with reversed-phase liquid chr omatography (LC) coupled to MS with atmospheric pressure chemical ionizatio n (APCI). The identification of TAG's detected with LC-APCI-MS showed that predominantly olive oil was used as a fuel for the antique oil lamps. The p resence of large quantities of multiply unsaturated triacylglycerol (TAG) a nd traces of saturated TAG indicated that also other oils and animal fat we re added. Summarizing, the analysis of TAG's with LC-APCI-MS in lipid extra cts of ancient ceramics proved to be a valuable method to reconstitute the original contents. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.