ABSTRACT
The most well-known facility for this kind of archeological research is the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR). Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) entails bombarding an archaeological sample with neutrons in order to form radioactive isotopes, the emissions from which can be measured by an instrument. Archaeological samples being prepared for INAA are ground into powder, encased in quartz, and placed in a sterile tube to be sent by pneumatic tube into the reactor. As Dr. F explained, once nuclear research reactor have the INAA data, there are a number of ways to deal with it, the most common of which is to "take the data, throw multivariate statistics at it, and have it generate groups". The working idea of a category is contextually dependent; the INAA archaeologists' expressed belief that categories are fluid and changeable has emerged over time because of ongoing experiences with data and with prior research, which they view against the backdrop of scientific objectivity.
