Abstract The adoption of Raman spectroscopy as a first‐pass screening technique for the presence of organic compounds on diverse substrates is now being advocated for the non‐destructive examination of potential sites for limited sampling for other analytical techniques. In this paper, examples of the analytical capability of Raman spectroscopy using long wavelength excitation in the near infrared for the characterisation of archaeological resins from Egyptian Dynastic and pre‐Dynastic periods and artefacts are used to illustrate the advantages and limitations of the technique. The resin specimens and artefacts span a period of about 7000 years. Raman spectra have been obtained of resin specimens from archaeological sites and of resins on several artefacts; from the latter it is possible to assess the influence of diverse substrates upon the spectral information that can be derived from the resins themselves. Key molecular spectral features are proposed for each resin studied and the presence of degradation assessed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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