The application of chemical techniques to the study of archeological finds, natural or anthropogenic, in order to ascertain their composition or, in some cases, their age. Traditional chemical analysis uses wet methods, in which a sample is brought into solution and its components are assayed by precipitation or titration. These methods were applied to ancient coins as early as the late eighteenth centuary. The obvious need to minimize damage to an irreplaceable object spurred the development of microchemical techniques. Modern analysis relies on instrumental methods that require only very small samples or are entirely nondestructive. Although these methods rely on physical phenomena rather than chemical transformation, all procedures that are capable of the qualitative and quantitative determination of the atomic or molecular composition of the object under study are usually included under the broad heading of archeological chemistry.