After hundreds of years submerged in sea water, marine archaeological objects are complex materials due to degradation and inclusion of foreign compounds from the surrounding environment. When excavated and exposed to air these can transform to damaging products which can destroy material, and therefore historical loss. The Mary Rose, King Henry VIII's favorite warship was made entirely of wood, however, a new paper called "Complementary analysis to de-convolute co-located contaminants in marine archaeological bricks" published today in the Journal of Cultural Heritage reveals how Prof. Eleanor Schofield, Deputy CEO for the Mary Rose Trust and Dr. Donna Arnold from the University of Kent, and their teams used Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron to examine bricks used in the galley of the Mary Rose warship in two brick ovens to cook warm food for more than 400 sailors and soldiers.