Archaeological Chemistry: Analytical Methods and Archaeological Interpretation
Abstract
Archaeologists, historians, chemists, and physicists have employed a variety of chemical and physical approaches to study artifacts and historical objects since at least the late 18th century. During the past 50 years, the chemistry of archaeological materials has increasingly been used to address a broad spectrum of anthropological topics, including preservation, dating, nativity, exchange, provenance, and manufacturing technology. This book brings together 28 papers that address how various analytical techniques can be used to address specific archaeological questions. Chemists, archaeologists, geologists, graduate students, and others in related disciplines who are investigating the use of archaeometric techniques will find this book of interest.
... Ranging from traditional graphical data representations to multivariate statistics and emerging branches of artificial intelligence (e.g. Glascock et al., 2007;Lowe et al., 2017), there are countless means through which characteristic source signals can be identified regardless of rock type. Moving from data analysis to archaeological interpretation, the case studies reviewed herein on mobility, time-averaging, recycling, source differentiation, and selection criteria pose challenges that are particularly relevant to the study of hominin raw material provisioning in deep time. ...
Eastern Africa's Plio-Pleistocene palaeoanthropological record has shaped our understanding of human biological and cultural evolution. Over the years, raw material sourcing has emerged as an important research topic in lithic analysis as it can allow for the identification of resource extraction points and transport distances as a means to infer other aspects of hominin behaviour that are of high evolutionary significance. The goal of this article is to review and synthesise the aims, methods, challenges, and knowledge on raw material sourcing from Plio-Pleistocene contexts in Eastern Africa. Beginning with a review of the Oldowan and Acheulean records, four over-arching patterns are identified based on evidence from 130 localities. First, hominin toolmakers regularly exerted selective criteria when choosing raw materials by way of opportunistic and more specialised procurement strategies. Second, the fragmentation of technological activities across the palaeolandscape emerged as a behavioural characteristic among Oldowan toolmakers before the first appearance datum of the Acheulean. Third, hominins across Eastern Africa preferentially utilised igneous rock types followed by metamorphic and sedimentary lithologies mirroring the regional lithostratigraphy. Finally, Acheulean toolmakers largely mimicked their Oldowan counterparts in terms of raw material provisioning until the late Early Pleistocene, when they began to engage in qualitatively different behaviour best evidenced by stone transport over longer distances.
This state of archaeological knowledge serves as the basis to then review the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of raw material sourcing followed by interpretive challenges. On a fundamental level, the identification of raw material sources is contingent on the implementation of a systematic sequence of analysis in which the resulting data abide to the provenance postulate. This serves to preface a devoted section on the array of analytical methods that can be successfully employed by archaeologists to source raw materials. Proven and innovative methods are identified by bringing into dialogue key factors such as accuracy, precision, reproducibility, discriminatory power, sensitivity, destructiveness, throughput, cost, ease, and the question of spatial scale. According to cost-benefit considerations, analytical methods that fall under the umbrella of geochemical fingerprinting are found to generally outperform macroscopic and petrographic techniques. It is also argued that characterising non-obsidian lithologies is best accomplished using more than one analytical method, with the understanding that once positive baseline results are obtained subsequent testing can be narrowed down from a methodological standpoint. Regardless of the characterisation method, it is imperative to implement effective means to analyse the resulting data, which constitutes this article's penultimate section. Ranging from traditional graphical data representations to multivariate statistics and emerging branches of artificial intelligence, there are countless means through which characteristic source signals can be identified regardless of rock type. The final section reviews common interpretive challenges when studying raw material provisioning in deep time. While the concepts of mobility, time-averaging, recycling, source differentiation, and selection criteria each present unique challenges, it is argued that they can be reasonably overcome by way of multidisciplinary evidence. Ultimately, it is found that the future of raw material sourcing from Plio-Pleistocene contexts in Eastern Africa is promising given what is currently known along with the subfield's robust foundations.
... Laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) has found wide application in the study of sulfides in geological samples [17,18]. Recently, LA-ICP-MS analysis has also become widespread in archaeological studies for determining trace elements in small samples [19,20]. ...
In the paper, the results of an investigation into trace elements found in slag sulfides from 14 archaeological Bronze Age settlements of the Cis-Urals, Trans-Urals, and North and Central Kazakhstan are presented. The study used Cu-(Fe)-sulfides as indicator minerals. Cu-(Fe)-S minerals in slags are primarily represented by covellite and chalcocite, as well as by rarer bornite and single chalcopyrite grains. Slag sulfides formed relic clasts and neogenic droplets of different shapes and sizes. Supergenic ores in the Bronze Age in Urals and Kazakhstan played a significant role in the mineralogical raw material base. In sulfides, the main indicator elements, Fe, Co, Ni, As, Se, Te, Sb, Ag, Pb, and Bi, are important markers of copper deposit types. Sulfides from olivine Cr-rich spinel containing slags of Ustye, Turganik are characterized by As-Co-Ni high contents and confined to copper deposits in ultramafic rocks. Olivine sulfide-containing slags from Kamenny Ambar, Konoplyanka and Sarlybay 3 are characterized by Co-Se-Te assemblage and confined to mafic rocks. Glassy sulfide-containing slags from Katzbakh 6, Turganik, Ordynsky Ovrag, Ivanovskoe, Tokskoe, Bulanovskoe 2, Kuzminkovskoe 2, Pokrovskoe, Rodnikovoe, and Taldysay are characterized by Ag-Pb-(Ba)-(Bi) assemblage and confined to cupriferous sandstone deposits. High As, Sb, Sn, and Ba contents found in slags can be seen as indicators of alloying or flux components in primary copper smelting. These include samples from Ustye, Katzbakh 6, Rodnikovoe, and Taldysay sites, where high Ba and As slag contents are identified. The compilation of a database with a broad sample of sulfide compositions from Bronze Age slags and mines in the Urals and Kazakhstan will permit the further identification of ore types and raw materials associated with a particular deposit.
... INAA consists of bombarding ceramic sherd and clay samples with neutrons and measuring the emitting gamma rays as amounts of elements in each sample (reported in parts per million or parts per billion). For ancient ceramics, INAA is among the best techniques to establish a centralized comparative dataset because of its accuracy, precision, and replicability (Bishop et al., 1982;Glascock et al. 2007;Glascock and Neff, 2003;Neff, 2000;Rice, 1987, pp. 374-375;Stoner and Glascock, 2012). ...
An important aspect of studying ancient empire formation is the role of local political economies throughout imperial fluctuations. Such insight can help us understand how imperial powers may or may not have exerted control over their subjects, and the broader impacts of imperial change on local populations. This study uses geochemical analysis (INAA) of ceramic samples and raw clays from Angamuco, located in the Lake Pátzcuaro
Basin, Michoacán. Angamuco was occupied before and throughout the development of the Purépecha Empire (1350–1530 CE) and is thus an important case study for evaluating the impacts of political change on material production and manufacturing. We identify four compositional groups, two of which match previously identified groups elsewhere in the lake basin. We argue that Angamuco ceramics were largely locally produced and that raw material use remained relatively stable over long periods. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of ceramic production processes at Angamuco and will be compared to archaeometric studies in Western Mesoamerica and elsewhere.
... In the South American Andes, fragments of mineral pigments have been found in archaeological contexts from the Late Pleistocene onwards (Llagostera et al., 2000;Prieto et al., 2016;Santoro et al., 2011), becoming more ubiquitous at the beginning of the Holocene (9000-1500 BC). Among hunter-gatherers of the Andean highlands, mineral pigment use has been associated with the treatment of animal skins (Aldenderfer, 1998;Popelka-Filcoff et al., 2007) and rock art production (Gallardo, 2009;Guffroy, 1999;Sepúlveda et al., 2012Sepúlveda et al., , 2013bYacobaccio et al., 2008). On the Pacific coast, powdered pigment has been found on stone tools used for grinding, in shells used as containers (Costa-Junqueira, 2001;Lavallée et al., 1999;Llagostera et al., 2000;Prieto et al., 2016;Salazar et al., 2015), on Chinchorro mummies, and as funerary offerings among the earliest maritime societies of the northern coast of Chile (Arriaza et al., 2008;Costa-Junqueira, 2001;Mostny, 1964;Sepúlveda et al., 2014;Uhle, 1919). ...
The mineral richness of the Atacama Desert permitted the development of a diverse array of mining activities, including the production of metals, lapidary, and pigments, which developed into significant sociocultural practices for desert dwellers throughout the occupation of the region. El Cóndor mine is an important hematite source located in the middle section of the Loa River, exploited from the Formative Period (ca. AD 300) until Inca times (ca. AD 1500). In contrast to other mining sites of Atacama region, the El Condor mine complex contains specialized infrastructure where different kinds of activities were carried out: extraction pits, processing areas with multiple anvils and grinding tools, and semicircular structures used for domestic activities. Pigment production was initially developed as a small-scale craft that intensified during later periods (ca. AD 1200). It was most extensive following the Inca expansion (ca. AD 1400), as evidenced by wider networks of distribution and consumption, as well as infrastructural changes. El Cóndor mine constitutes a notable example of a large-scale hematite operation that articulated important networks of exchange, and as such provides a case study for evaluating the organization of mining activities during late periods of the pre-Hispanic sequence in the Atacama Desert. We then emphasize that the circulation of pigments constitutes an important social practice and a salient economic activity, fulfilling a political role through the production and reproduction of social relations between different cultural entities that could be compared to similar cases from other regions in the world.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416517301198
... Background to the geochemical analysis: Portable X-ray fluorescence X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is one of the most commonly employed chemical characterization methods used for lithic and ceramic artifacts, and portable XRF instruments are becoming increasingly popular in archeometric studies (Dillian, 2016;Frahm, 2013aFrahm, , 2013bGlascock et al., 2007;Shackley, 2011). Portable XRF technology enables analysis of specimens in the field or museum, without necessitating transport of artifacts to a separate laboratory facility. ...
Brookgreen Gardens, Georgetown County, South Carolina, includes the remains of Brookgreen Plantation and other historic rice plantations. The property contains archeological resources associated with enslaved African, African-American, and Native American people. Visitors are told that the piers and chimneys of the homes of the enslaved were made of local brick, from clay dug, processed, and fired on-site. The clay mining allegedly formed the ponds and water features still visible today. To test that assertion, the authors conducted experiments, including collecting and geochemically analyzing local clays from these water features, to better understand the brick-making practices of Brookgreen's enslaved workers. Using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, we determined that these ponds were not the source of clay used for bricks. Instead, a deposit of clay located closer to the historic rice fields, where much of the work on the plantation occurred, was geochemically consistent with the archeological bricks.
... The multivariate statistical analysis of chemical composition of archaeological ceramics is a very useful tool for determining the possible presence and provenance of the foreign ceramic styles [3][4][5][6][7], as well as for understanding the kind and grade of influence of wide-ranging civilizations on local groups. Given a representative sample of pottery of different styles from the same period in an archaeological site, the first step is thus to determine the elemental composition of each fragment in a complete and accurate way. ...
Fragments of archaeological pottery from a rescue excavation at the site of La Real in Arequipa, Peru, were studied by instrumental neutron activation analysis, k 0 method. Analytical data were processed by multivariate statistical techniques, comparing the chemical composition of the studied samples versus the information available in our database on the chemical composition of archaeological pottery from Conchopata (Ayacucho), Cotahuasi (Arequipa), Huaro (Cusco) and Tiwanaku (Bolivia). The results obtained revealed that most of the samples were likely made locally at La Real, while others correspond to the chemical composition of the different groups considered, showing evidence of the presence of foreign pottery in the site and a small group which were not classified.
... [1] Since then, residue analysis has been conducted on a wide variety of substances including perfumes, cosmetics, beeswax, resins, tar, pitches, proteins and lipids in soils, pigments, ink, and paint. [2][3][4][5] Food residue studies generally analyze lipids, proteins, DNA, and other characteristic compounds of residues absorbed by pottery. A wide range of techniques is used including chromatography, gas spectrometry, elemental analysis, optical and resonance spectroscopy, stable isotope analysis, X-ray diffraction, and immunological techniques. ...
We performed food residue analysis of cook-stones from experimental and
prehistoric earth ovens using a handheld Raman spectrometry. Progress in modern
optical technology provides a facile means of rapid non-destructive
identification of residue artifacts from archaeological sites. For this study
spectral signatures were obtained on sotol (Dasylirion spp.) experimentally
baked in an earth oven as well as sotol residue on an experimentally used
processing tool. Inulin was the major residue component. The portable handheld
Raman spectrometer also detected traces of inulin on boiling stones used to
boil commercially obtained inulin. The Raman spectra of inulin and sotol may be
useful as signatures of wild plant residues in archaeology. Spectroscopic
analysis of millennia-old cook-stones from prehistoric archaeological sites in
Fort Hood, TX revealed the presence of residues whose further identification
requires improvement of current optical methods.
... En los últimos años ha habido un incremento espectacular del uso de técnicas analíticas aplicadas al estudio tanto de materiales arqueológicos como de obras de arte12345. En algunos casos se utiliza una sola técnica aunque la tendencia mayoritaria es la aplicación de un conjunto de ellas cuyos resultados son complementarios entre sí y ayudan a caracterizar las muestras de forma más completa. Dentro de estas técnicas habituales, sobre todo en el análisis de pigmentos [6], materiales de construcción [7], cerámicas [8], etc, se hallan la espectroscopia de infrarrojos mediante transformada de Fourier (FTIR) en modo de transmisión y el análisis termogravimétrico (TG). ...
En este trabajo se ponen de manifiesto las ventajas de la utilización de la Termogravimetría acoplada a Espectrometría de masas (TG-EM) y de la Espectrometría Infrarroja mediante Reflectancia Total atenuada (ATR-FTIR) frente a las técnicas usadas tradicionalmente de Termogravimetría (TG) y de Espectroscopia Infrarroja por Transformada de Fourier en modo transmisión (FTIR) en el estudio de materiales de construcción prehistóricos de diversos yacimientos de la Provincia de Alicante (España).
The companion of different materials in architectural decorations of Iran, during the Islamic era, in many cases has opened up new art styles and techniques and changed the aesthetic look of the cultures that carry this phenomenon. The accompaniment of brick, plaster and glaze decorations is one of the fascinating changes in the history of art of Iranian architectural decorations that its history of invention has remained somewhat obscure. Meanwhile, the initial idea of using tiles in the decorations of Iranian architecture in the Islamic era remains largely unknown. Tile is a type of architectural decoration that may be originated from ancient Iran, and therefore, little information is available about the manufacturing and execution techniques and specimens of tile works from the early centuries of the Islamic era. This aim of this work was to distinguish between the tile and the glazed-brick. From the viewpoint of the researcher, when the thickness of the glazed-ceramic exceeds from its width, the work becomes glazed-brick, while the width of the glazed-ceramic become greater than its thickness, it will be a tile. The main purpose of this research was to obtain the information on the oldest tiles of the Islamic period in Iran, which could be found as the glazed-ceramic in the architectural design Khajeh Atabak in Kerman. In order to achieve the aims of this research, the study of written sources and the field studies were carried out simultaneously, to characterize the tile works in Iranian architectural decorations, especially at the tomb of Khajeh Atabak in Kerman. On the basis of the results obtained, it could be said that unfortunately from the Islamic period in Iran till the 11th century AD., no dated tiles have been left. Many of the tiles with no written date on them have been dated by researchers regardless the manufacturing technology, and only based on the tiles appearance and archaeological characteristics. These dating studies have not been performed based on the laboratory studies and they were actually done with speculation, so are not scientifically acceptable. For example, for decades it was thought that the oldest tiles in Iranian architecture belong to the Qazvin Jame-Mosque, while as a result of field studies realized in this research, it was found that there is no antique tile in this monument, where the color of the painting was mistakenly recognized as tile. Donald Wilber reported this error for the first time, and over the several decades, all the researchers repeated the same error without careful scrutiny. Anyway, the tile samples of five monuments with a collection of tiles or with one single tile were identified as the oldest tiles of the Islamic period in Iran. One of the main results of this research is to identify the use of fractured pieces of glazed pottery in architectural decorations, where some researchers have identified these works as the tiles. In these cases, both sides of the pieces of potteries have glaze and the body is very thin and delicate along with the arches and curves. Moreover, in some cases the edges of the pottery container can also be seen. Achieving this result reinforces this hypothesis that using the broken pottery container may have formed the first idea for tiles construction.
In the paper, the results of an investigation into trace elements found in slag sulphides from 14 archaeological Bronze Age settlements of the Cis-Urals, Trans-Urals and North and Central Kazakhstan are presented. The study used Cu-(Fe)-sulphides as indicator minerals. Cu-(Fe)-S minerals in slags are primarily represented by covellite and chalcocite, as well as by rarer bornite and single chalcopyrite grains. Slag sulphides formed relic clasts and neogenic droplets of different shapes and sizes. Supergenic ores in the Bronze Age in Urals and Kazakhstan played a significant role in the mineralogical raw material base. In sulphides, the main indicator elements Fe, Co, Ni, As, Se, Te, Sb, Ag, Pb, and Bi are important markers of copper deposit types. Sulphides from olivine Cr-rich spinel containing slags of Ustye, Turganik, and Kuzminkovskoe 2 are characterised by As-Co-Ni assemblages and confined to copper deposits in ultramafic rocks. Olivine sulphide-containing slags from Kamenny Ambar, Konoplyanka and Sarlybay 3 are characterised by Co-Se-Te assemblage and confined to mafic rocks. Glassy sulphide-containing slags from Katzbakh 6, Turganik, Ordynsky Ovrag, Ivanovskoe, Tokskoe, Bulanovskoe 2, Pokrovskoe, Rodnikovoe, and Taldysay are characterised by Ag-Pb-(Ba)-(Bi) assemblage and confined to cupriferous sandstone deposits. High As, Sb, Sn and Ba contents found in slags can be seen as indicators of alloying or flux components in primary copper smelting. These include samples from Ustye, Katzbakh 6, Rodnikovoe, and Taldysay sites, where high Ba and As slag contents are identified. The compilation of a database with a broad sample of sulphide compositions from Bronze Age slags and mines in the Urals and Kazakhstan will permit the further identification of ore types and raw materials associated with a particular deposit.
Although Scandinavian flint is one of the most important materials used for prehistoric stone tool production in Northern and Central Europe, a conclusive method for securely differentiating between flint sources, geologically bound to northern European chalk formations, has never been achieved. The main problems with traditional approaches concern the oftentimes high similarities of SiO2 raw materials (i.e. chert and flint) on different scales due to similar genetic conditions and higher intra- than inter-source variation. Conventional chert and flint provenance studies chiefly concentrate on visual, petrographic or geochemical investigations. Hence, attempts to generate characteristic fingerprints of particular chert raw materials were in most cases unsatisfying. Here we show that the Multi Layered Chert Sourcing Approach (MLA) achieves a clear differentiation between primary sources of Scandinavian flint. The MLA combines visual comparative studies, stereo-microscopic analyses of microfossil inclusions, geochemical trace element analyses applying LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) and statistical analyses through CODA (Compositional Data Analysis). For archaeologists, provenance studies are the gateway to advance interpretations of economic behavior expressed in resource management strategies entailing the procurement, use and distribution of lithic raw materials. We demonstrate the relevance of our results for archaeological materials in a case study in which we were able to differentiate between Scandinavian flint sources and establish the provenance of historic ballast flint from a shipwreck found near Kristiansand close to the shore of southern Norway from a beach source in Northern Jutland, the Vigsø Bay.
The study and preservation of cultural heritage is a multidisciplinary field where Materials Science and Corrosion Science have a very significant role to play. This chapter discusses how materials and corrosion scientists can follow a career in cultural heritage. It highlights the particular challenges that these disciplines encounter in the study and preservation of cultural heritage materials and the exciting career paths offered in museums, monuments, and relevant academic and research institutions. The applications for science and engineering skills to cultural materials are diverse, including the reverse engineering necessary to reconstruct ancient technologies used for materials production, the examination and condition assessment of often complex finds and structures, and the development of innovative treatment methods for their protection and conservation for future generations. Within this range of challenges and materials, numerous career paths are available that lead to specialisations within the sub-fields of archaeological science and conservation science.
The study and preservation of cultural heritage is a multidisciplinary field where Materials Science and Corrosion Science have a very significant role to play. This chapter discusses how materials and corrosion scientists can follow a career in cultural heritage. It highlights the particular challenges that these disciplines encounter in the study and preservation of cultural heritage materials and the exciting career paths offered in museums, monuments, and relevant academic and research institutions. The applications for science and engineering skills to cultural materials are diverse, including the reverse engineering necessary to reconstruct ancient technologies used for materials production, the examination and condition assessment of often complex finds and structures, and the development of innovative treatment methods for their protection and conservation for future generations. Within this range of challenges and materials, numerous career paths are available that lead to specialisations within the sub-fields of archaeological science and conservation science.
Neutron activitation analysis as a panoramic method of (trace) metal analysis is discussed and its use for glass provenancing studies is described. First, the theory of activation analysis by means of neutrons is presented. The possible nuclear reactions are described as well as the types of neutrons formed in a nuclear reactor that give rise to them. Some information on radioactive decay modes is provided as well as on the production kinetics of radionuclides. On the basis of this, the manner in which concentrations can be calculated from the gamma spectrum of neutron activated materials is discussed. After discussing the advantages and limitations of NAA, the application of this method to the study of obsidian usage in prehistoric times is outlined as well as the use of NAA for provenancing man–made glass.
Today, in America, we are surrounded by objects from distant places: toys from China, cars from Japan, shoes from Mexico,
wine from Argentina, and myriad goods from around the world. Workers in Naivasha, Kenya, harvest roses in the afternoon, and
by the next morning they are for sale in the flower shops of London. High-speed, economical transportation links producers
and consumers in an international marketplace; the average home in the western world contains goods transported by trains,
container ships, and cargo jets. In the prehistoric and historic past, when transport was slower and costlier, the exchange
networks that linked distant peoples were complex and productive. Nonlocal goods were transported, traded, and exchanged through
a variety of means, over short and long distances, and it was often the case that the social dynamics that were part of this
process were as meaningful as the objects themselves. Archaeological tools for identifying foreign objects, such as provenance
studies, stylistic analyses, and economic documentary sources reveal nonlocal materials in prehistoric and historic assemblages.
Yet trade and exchange encompass more than mere production and consumption. Exchange was a mechanism for introducing the exotic
into daily life. Foreign objects were integrated into everyday practice long before the advent of a global economy.
Obsidian artifacts recently have been recovered from 18 archaeological sites on eight islands across the Kuril Island archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean, suggesting a wide-ranging distribution of obsidian throughout the island chain over the last 2,500 years. Although there are no geologic sources of obsidian in the Kurils that are known to have been used prehistorically, sources exist in Hokkaido, Japan, and Kamchatka, Russia, the southern and northern geographic regions respectively from which obsidian may have entered the Kuril Islands. This paper reports on the initial sourcing attempt of Kuril Islands obsidian through the analysis of 131 obsidian artifacts. Data from this research were generated through the application of portable XRF technology, and are used to address research questions concerning prehistoric mobility, exchange, and social networking in the Kuril Islands.
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