Marjolein AdmiraalThe University of York · Department of Archaeology
Marjolein Admiraal
Doctor of Philosophy
About
11
Publications
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Citations since 2017
Introduction
I am a New World archaeologist trained in biomolecular and chemical methods such as lipid residue analysis and (compound specific) isotope analysis. I have recently completed my PhD on early Alaskan pottery at the University of Groningen, and in collaboration with the University of York. I am currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow on the ERC TRADITION project, based at BioArCh at the University of York.
Publications
Publications (11)
Artificial illumination is a fundamental human need. Burning wood and other materials usually in hearths and fireplaces extended daylight hours, whilst the use of flammable substances in torches offered light on the move. It is increasingly understood that pottery played a role in light production. In this study, we focus on ceramic oval bowls, mad...
Understanding the emergence and development of coastal adaptations is a central theme in the archaeology of Maritime Northeast Asia. The capacity to harvest, store and share aquatic resources offered a novel economic strategy that could support greater sedentism and new forms of social life. In turn, growing reliance on the exploitation of rich coa...
Pottery technology, originating in Northeast Asia, appeared in Alaska some 2800 years ago. It spread swiftly along Alaska's coastline but was not adopted on Kodiak Island until around 500 cal BP, as part of the Koniag tradition. While in the southeast pottery was used extensively, people on the northern half of the island did not adopt the technolo...
This PhD research investigates the adoption of pottery technology into New World Subarctic
(i.e., Southwest Alaska), through the application of organic residue analysis and stable isotope analysis to identify pottery function. While durable containers such as pottery first made their appearance as early as 20,000 years ago in southeastern China, th...
Lipids preserved within the walls of ancient pottery vessels are routinely analysed to reveal their original contents. The provenience of aquatic lipids in pottery is generally connected to vessel function (e.g., for cooking or storing fish, shellfish and aquatic mammals). However, ethnographic reports from early‐historic Alaska mention the use of...
Lipid residue analysis has recently been applied to investigate the adoption of pottery by Early Woodland hunter-gatherers in north-eastern North America. Results, however, have proven contradictory, especially regarding the extent to which early ceramics were used for processing aquatic resources. Here, the authors argue that this inconsistency is...
The earliest durable cooking technologies found in Alaska are stone bowls and griddle stones recovered from the Aleutian Islands. This article aims to identify the function of these artefacts. Molecular and chemical analyses of carbonised residues found on their surfaces confirm that these artefacts were used to process marine resources. Both artef...
Projects
Projects (4)
The Holzman hearth project is a pilot project to assess preservation of lipids in several prehistoric hearths of the First Americans Holzman site in Alaska’s Tanana Valley dating to the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. The project is led by Dr Marjolein Admiraal at the University of York in a collaboration with the Adelphi University of New York (Dr. Bryan Wygal and Dr. Kathryn Krasinski).
The use of pottery by the hunter-gatherer cultures of Northeast Asia is a topic of increasing interest. Recent studies have highlighted that early pottery in Japan, the Russian far east, and Alaska was used to process aquatic resources. The location of most early pottery sites on major river systems in Northeast Siberia hint at a similar use. This is the first study to investigate the characteristics of pottery function in Northeast Siberia using direct methods. Through lipid residue and stable isotope analysis we aim to identify the function of pottery from 34 archaeological sites ranging from Yakutia, to the Upper Kolyma River, Kamchatka and Chukotka. We will investigate patterns in pottery function in this vast region throughout the past 6,000 years. Furthermore, by modelling radiocarbon dates of pottery sites in Northeast Siberia we hope to shed light on the dispersal of ceramic technology and the role of the environment and vessel function for pottery dispersal.
TRADITION is an ERC-Consolidator Grant funded research project that will assess the long-term development of small-scale fisheries in South America, and their legacy to present day food security and poverty alleviation. During this 3-year postdoctoral position I will perform organic residue analysis of ceramic artefacts from the Atlantic forest coast of Brazil (pre-Columbian and historical), and integrate the results with other lines of dietary evidence.
