AnBioMin  is a pioneering initiative dedicated to  to the exploration of the therapeutic potential of select minerals (clays and metallic salts), both natural and synthetic, featuring prominently in the medical and pharmacological texts of the Greco-Roman (G-R) world. Building on eight years of research originally seed-funded by the Wellcome Trust, our work investigates how antiquity understood and utilised these ‘lithotherapeutics’, as remedies for a variety of medical conditions.

Over the past few years, our research has focused on some of these minerals which today would be considered biogenic. Τhis  means that they either derived from processes driven by microbial activity or they contained a microbial component (bacteria, fungi) naturally present or intentionally introduced. It is the elucidation of their dual nature (i.e. both biotic and abiotic) that underpins our work at AnBioMin. For a background to our work, see pages on ancient mineral therapeutics.

Presently, at AnBioMin, we are focusing on the reconfiguration of one specific medicinal clay, Lemnian Earth (LE) from the island of Lemnos, N Aegean, by investigating its effect in modulating the gut biome. 

By combining archaeological research, laboratory analysis, and microbiological testing, our work at AnBioMin aims to bridge the gap between ancient and modern pharmacology.

 

AnBioMin is an offshoot of SASAA (Ltd). SASAA (Ltd) is based in Glasgow, Scotland and  specialises  in the analysis of archaeological materials.