Archaeometry & Materials Analysis (Other Keyword)
176-200 (357 Records)
Pukara, in the northern Lake Titicaca Basin, was a regional center during the Late Formative Period (200 BC- AD 200). The Classic Pukara style is associated with monumental public constructions and sunken temples, elaborate stone sculpture, and a unique polychrome pottery tradition. Spotted felines, disembodied heads, camelids and plants, and anthropomorphic figures were incised and painted on incense burners, trumpets, and other special purpose ceramic vessels that were circulated in the...
Making Bead Makers: Durability and Change in a Community of Practice among the Manteño-Guancavilca of Ecuador. (2018)
Shell beads are rarely considered a major artifact category. However, research on bead production among the Manteño-Guancavilca (AD 800-1532) of coastal Ecuador highlights the fundamental importance of this category of artifacts. By recording six measurements and four qualitative observations for each of 7651 beads from six sites (two regions, three stretches of time), this research has been able to recognize two distinct châines opératoires. At approximately AD 1200, bead makers shifted from a...
Making the Exotic from the Familiar: The Source and Production of Carnelian Beads during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Mongolia (2021)
This is an abstract from the "New Directions in Mongolian Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Mongolia, communities across the region adopted mobile pastoralism and horse-riding technology. In conjunction with these changes in subsistence and mobility patterns, innovative funerary practices emerged that incorporated monumental construction and new mortuary offerings. Included in these grave...
Manufacture Marks on Shell Fishhooks: Technological Knowledge and Tradition of Coastal and Maritime Societies along the Pacific Coast of Chile (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fishhooks on Choromytilus chorus shells (mussel) can be found along the northern coast Chile (18° to 30° Lat. S) and were manufactured between 7500 and 4000 yrs cal BP. Manufacture marks on these artefacts are prominent features to observed, describe, and compare. In this way, the study of shell fishhooks’ manufacture techniques allows us not only to...
Mapping Thermal Features at Quartz Lake, Alaska (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Few archaeological sites from the late Holocene Dene/Athabascan tradition have been extensively studied, leaving researchers with many questions about everyday practices. Specifically, the function and spatial distribution of thermal features has yet to be extensively evaluated. Despite the ubiquity of cooking in daily life and cooking features in the...
A Material Science Consideration of New World Encounters: Multi-method Approaches to the Archaeology of the Caribbean (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Following a recent review of excavated materials from the island of Mona (Puerto Rico), this paper examines the transformation of cultural and technological practices brought about by New World encounters. We focus on the affective material conditions that emerge in the 16th century Caribbean by applying a materials science approach to the newly integrated...
Materials Characterization at the National Museum of the American Indian: (Mostly) Non-destructive Analysis (2018)
The use of portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) for in-situ elemental analysis is becoming widespread in archaeology and cultural heritage studies. Archaeologists and conservators routinely use pXRF instruments in the field and many museums use them in-house for identification of pigments, metals, and inorganic pesticide residues, characterization of minerals and determination of alloy composition. The NMAI Conservation Department has been using pXRF for over fifteen years for a variety of...
Maya Monumental ‘Boom’: Spatial Development, Rank Ordering, and Planning Considerations at Alabama, East-Central Belize (2018)
In the 1980s, archaeological investigations by the Point Placencia Archaeological Project (PPAP) noted the rapid, single-phase development of monumental construction at the Maya site of Alabama in the Stann Creek District. Though never fully investigated by PPAP, this rapid, ‘boom-like’ development during the late facet of the Late Classic to Terminal Classic periods is being pursued in current investigations by the Stann Creek Regional Archaeology Project (SCRAP). This presentation, by...
The Mayan Style Lapidary Objects in Mesoamerica Outside the Maya Region: Provenance, Manufacture, Distribution, and Symbolism (2018)
Across Mesoamerica and outside the Maya Region, archaeologists have found different greenstone lapidary objects with glossy appearance and particular iconography and aesthetics that were considered as jadeite and crafted by the Maya. Unfortunately, their detailed analysis to confirm these assumptions is scarce. In this paper, we will show the study of Mayan style lapidary items from different sites, like Teotihuacan, Monte Albán, Teteles, Tula, Tamtoc, and Tenochtitlan. We employed Micro-Raman...
Measuring Seasonality in Codakia orbicularis Clams from Lucayan Sites in the Bahamas (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The shells of Codakia orbicularis clams are common at archaeological sites throughout the Bahama archipelago. These clams were harvested as food, and their abundance indicates that they were processed in habitation areas. Previous studies have suggested that the shells record daily, tidal, and seasonal growth sequences that can be used to determine when...
Meat and Potatoes: A Mixed 7,000-Year-Old-Diet (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation examines the diets of 16 prehistoric burials at Soro Mik’aya Patxja, a high-elevation Archaic Period site occupied 7,000 years ago in the Peruvian Andes. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were analyzed to infer the prehistoric hunter-gatherer diets during a period that preceded the domestication of tubers, quinoa, and vicuña. Plants such as...
Medio Period Borderland Dynamics at 76 Draw (2019)
This is an abstract from the "25 Years in the Casas Grandes Region: Celebrating Mexico–U.S. Collaboration in the Gran Chichimeca" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The New Mexico/Chihuahua border was also a borderland between AD 1200 and 1450 where the contemporaneous Casas Grandes, Salado, and El Paso phase cultures overlapped. The excavation of 76 Draw, a Medio period site on the northern periphery of the Casas Grandes region, is designed to...
Mica in Xalla: A Glittering Archaeological Indicator of Power and Specialized Production (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Palace of Xalla in Teotihuacan: A Possible Seat of Power in the Ancient Metropolis" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mica, a shiny silicate mineral with a layered structure, was highly valued by the Teotihuacan people. Mica has unique physical properties, but we propose that the most striking one was of an optical nature, owing to the fact that it is a multicolored, specular material. The Teotihuacan elite groups...
Micro Currencies Can Rapidly Appear Among Energy Maximizers: A Case Study from the Southern Sierra Nevada Foothills (2018)
A recent, large-scale archaeological investigation in the southern Sierra Nevada foothills revealed the development of a locally circumscribed steatite bead-making industry. Made from a local steatite source, these rough, thin, square beads are accompanied by the entire range of production debris and bead making tools, collectively dating to the post-Mission historic period. I argue these steatite beads represent a micro-currency developed as an energy maximizing response to decreased...
Microanalysis of Taphonomic Alteration on Skeletal Material - A Novel Approach to Identifying Damaging Sulfur Compounds (2018)
The geochemistry of taphonomic alterations affecting buried bone has been little studied, yet has vast implications for scientific interpretation of archaeological and paleontological specimens in a world now embracing chemical methods in geoarchaeology. This investigative study of black surface staining on mammalian sub-fossil bone excavated from the bed of the Santa Fe River in northern Florida exemplifies the need to carefully evaluate post-depositional alteration. Such stains typically are...
Microanalytical Insights into Pigment Selection and Preparation in British Columbia Rock Art (2018)
Pictographs are important archaeological locales that can provide insight into histories of mineral use and pigment preparation. We present the results of a series of microanalytical explorations of a pictograph panel at Boling Point, Babine Lake, British Columbia. Examination by high-resolution microanalysis (SEM-EDS, TEM, FTIR, micro-Raman) has revealed evidence pertaining to source selection of the iron-oxides used to produce the pictographs, the weathering and condition of the panels, and...
Microscopic and Spectrometric Techniques Applied to Identify Luxury Materials in a Fifteenth-Century Aztec Shield (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Materials to Materiality: Analysis and Interpretation of Archaeological and Historical Artifacts Using Non-destructive and Micro/Nano-sampling Scientific Methods" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the collections of the world, only six aztec feathered objects exist: three shields and a headdress in Europe, and two shields in Mexico. Mexico’s National Museum of History conserves one shield, made of mammal hide,...
Mineralogical and Micromorphological Analysis of Gypsum Washes at Casa Grande National Monument (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The great house at Casa Grande National Monument, Arizona, occupied circa 1350-1450 CE, is a four-story Hohokam structure made of puddled earth. All of the interior surfaces are finished similarly with individual clay (illite and palygorskite) and gypsum washes. Together, these two fine-finish materials give the walls a uniquely consistent red color and sheen....
Molecular and Isotopic Analyses of Charred and Uncharred Sediments: Investigating Environmental Signatures at the Middle Palaeolithic Rock Shelter of Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Spain) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Charred Organic Matter in the Archaeological Sedimentary Record" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Our understanding of Late Pleistocene Neanderthal habitats is largely based on anthracological and palynological reconstructions set within broader global climatic frameworks. This approach has yielded important environmental information, however, so far it has not been possible to identify fluctuations in climate or...
Molecular Starch Degradation and Their Fingerprints: Insights from Modern African Taxa (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ancient starch analysis is a controversial technique, as the polymer’s chemical survivability over long periods of time is not understood. Our objectives are to establish the molecular composition of starch granules from sub-Saharan taxa of ethnobotanical relevance subjected to diagenetic processes, and to determine if these byproducts have diagnostic...
Monumental Architecture in Central Mexico during the Terminal Formative: New Findings from the Tlalancaleca Archaeological Project, Puebla (2018)
Tlalancaleca was one of the largest settlements before the rise of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico and has been known for the presence of early talud-tablero facades (a combination of sloping walls and vertical panels) and other cultural elements inherited by Teotihuacan. This paper presents preliminary results of excavations, which were carried at monumental structures at Tlalancaleca. It examines the construction techniques used for monument building (including talud-tablero facades), the degree...
The More the Merrier: Using a Suite of Analytical Techniques to Arrive at Reliable Chert Ascription (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Case Studies in Toolstone Provenance: Reliable Ascription from the Ground Up" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Determining the provenance of Florida cherts has been a major goal of archaeological researchers in the state for decades, and inquiry has largely focused on refining the existing petrographic and microscopic methods. When these methods of provenance were first developed, geochemical approaches using X-ray...
Morphological and Chemical Signatures of Chenopodium: Application of Optical and Electron Microscopy to Seeds from Experimental and Archaeological Contexts (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Humans are considered natural seed dispersing agents through the social acts of seed saving and seed sowing. The intentional and unintentional results of these human-plant relationships can lead to the development of genotypic and phenotypic traits that are beneficial to both the plant and to their human influencers. Anthropogenic seed dispersal of wild...
Movement and Animacy of Bodies in Pre-Columbian Florida (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Individual Bodies to Bodies of Social Theory: Exploring Ontologies of the Americas" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pre-Columbian Florida burial mounds exhibit multiple modes of burial, including extended, flexed, mixed (and mass) bundles, skull only, and cremation, as well as emplaced objects in various conditions and configurations. These different forms often occur within a single mound, and have been explained...
Multi-isotopic Investigation of Late Pleistocene Human Diet from the Site of Taforalt, Morocco (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Paleolithic to Neolithic transition generally denotes a dietary change from hunting, gathering, and fishing to agriculture. However, due to the limited number of Pleistocene sites that have yielded preserved human remains, our knowledge of the diets of pre-agriculturist human populations is still limited. Previously published isotopic studies have...