Chert sourcing (Other Keyword)
1-8 (8 Records)
In the past decade, a tremendous increase in the use of portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) instruments in archaeological provenance research has warranted several critical reflections on the analytical protocols which underpin their application in various material and regional contexts. This paper approaches the use of pXRF analysis for determining chert provenance with particular emphasis placed on tailoring empirical calibrations to best suit the dynamic properties of chert materials. In so...
Continuous Spatial Modles of Artifact Relative Frequency Data as an Aid for Sourcing Chert Materials: Two Examples from Patagonia and the Pampas of Argentina (2015)
The aim of this presentation is to introduce and discuss an approach to sourcing chert materials based on the use of spatial continuous models of relative frequency data (i.e. percentage representation of toolstone classes in georeferenced artifact assemblages), which is particularly useful in areas where there is scarce information about both the variability of one or many toolstone classes represented in lithic assemblages across the regional space and the localization of their likely or...
Evaluating Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy as a Non-Destructive Chert Sourcing Technique
The visual and chemical similarity between some chert types and individual outcrops within the same geologic formation often hinders accurate provenance determination. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) reflectance micro-spectroscopy is a non-destructive method demonstrating potential application in chert sourcing. Prior to analysis of archaeological assemblages the accuracy of the technique and analytical methodology must be tested. The current study examines a sample database of two visually...
FTIR reflectance spectral chert database (2012)
Hyper-spectral data obtained from 121 chert samples: 60 Ft Payne (30 from Elco, IL; 30 from Florence, AL), 60 Dover (30 from the Brigham Quarry site, TN; 30 from the Thompson Hollow Quarry site, TN), and a single Mookaite chert sample from Australia used as a control. Also included in the spreadsheet are spectral averages of each sample set from a single location. I sheet is 10 spectra taken from a single Dover chert sample and 4 spectra from three color zones in the Mookaite sample....
Investigating Hopewell interaction at the Crib Mound Site through source analysis of chert cache bifaces (2017)
The prehistoric cultures of the Middle Woodland Period (200 BC – AD 350) have been a central research focus in North American archaeology since the 18th Century. One trademark of these culture groups, commonly referred to as "Hopewell", is the presence of extensive social networks as evidenced by large amounts of exotic materials acquired from great distances. Chert cache discs found in the thousands in burial contexts are reported to have moved along these social networks. Both Wyandotte...
Lithic Procurement Patterning as a Proxy for Identifying Late Paleoindian Group Mobility along the Lower Tennessee River Valley (2015)
The Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys boast some of the highest concentrations of diagnostic Paleoindian artifact finds in the Americas. However, many of these finds are from secondary contexts void of associated deposits. The study utilizes chert provenance data, obtained using reflectance spectroscopy, on a large sample of Late Paleoindian diagnostic bifaces from sites along the Lower Tennessee River Valley. The objective of the study is to visualize group mobility at the close of the...
Sourcing Gary Points at the Poverty Point Site and Chert from the Trans-Pecos and High Plains Regions (2024)
This is an abstract from the "*SE Not Your Father’s Poverty Point: Rewriting Old Narratives through New Research" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The chert source analysis of Gary projectile points at the Poverty Point site reveals the movements of communities and/or tool stone resources. The study investigates westward connections at the site as indicated by the potential influx of Edwards Plateau chert. Varieties of Edwards Plateau chert from the...
Using Sourcing Studies to Examine Paleoindian Lithic Technological and Socioeconomic Organization in the Great Basin (2017)
In many regions of the world, archaeologists use sourcing studies to document patterns of toolstone procurement and conveyance that, in turn, inform their understanding of prehistoric lithic technological and socioeconomic organization. This is certainly true of Charlotte Beck and George T. Jones’s research in eastern Nevada, where the sourcing of obsidian, andesite, and dacite artifacts has figured prominently in their study of Paleoindian lifeways. In this paper, I briefly reflect on Beck and...