Archaeometry & Materials Analysis (Other Keyword)
126-150 (484 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The critical role of emotions in any social framework is a problematic element to address from the archaeological record. The nuances of nonverbal communication preceded articulated language and the production of any other communication record in the human species. Behavioral studies, supported by neuroanatomical registration, allow the detailed...
Engaging Materiality: Archaeology of Craft Production in Igbo Ukwu (Ninth–Twelfth Century CE) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Crafting Archaeological Practice in Africa and Beyond: Celebrating the Contributions of Ann B. Stahl to Global Archaeology" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the study of craft production in antiquity. It combines theoretical and methodological toolkits from archaeology, material science, studies of craft production, and ancient economies to investigate the organization...
Epifluorescence Microscopy of Experimentally Heated Animal Bones: Applications to Archaeological Micromorphology (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. Burned bones are an important constituent of the archaeological sedimentary record. Their presence is usually indicative of human activity and may provide information about past human behavior. In micromorphological thin sections, charred bone fragments may appear as opaque and amorphous, and extremely difficult to...
The Esperanza to Middle Marcala Phase Subsistence Practices at El Gigante Rockshelter (11,000–7400 cal B.P.) (2018)
The earliest human occupation of the El Gigante Rockshelter in the highlands of western Honduras dates to the Early Esperanza phase at 11,010 cal B.P. This paper examines the perishable and imperishable remains from the Early Esperanza through Middle Marcala phase occupation from 11,010-7,430 cal B.P. and what they inform about human adaptation and forager subsistence practices in the highlands during this early period of Honduran prehistory.
Establishing Ceramic Source Groups in Florida Using a Multi-method Approach (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. More than 500 ceramic artifacts from four prehistoric sites in Pinellas County, Florida, were analyzed nondestructively using a portable XRF spectrometer to address research questions about local production and potential movement or exchange over significant distances. All dating to the Safety Harbor period (ca. AD 900–1500), at least 100 diagnostic...
Establishing Provenance of Ochre from the La Prele Mammoth Site: A Geochemical Analysis (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Red ochre is a ferrous iron oxide mineral used for cultural expression and utilitarian tasks by hominins beginning 250,000 years ago. The use of ochre continued into the New World. While its use by Paleoindians has been noted, the function and significance of ochre for these groups is not well understood. To conceive the importance of ochre to Paleoindians, it...
Establishing the Elemental Analysis Facility: Reflections on 20 Years of Research (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum: Celebrating 20 Years Serving the Archaeological Community " session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. With funding from the National Science Foundation, the Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum has advanced research projects in archaeological chemistry to study research on trade and exchange, examine craft production, and assess the nature of archaeological...
Estudios de las especies de moluscos en Quilcapampa La Antigua. (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Wari and the Far Peruvian South Coast: Final Results of Excavations in Quilcapampa" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El sitio arqueológico de Quilcapampa se ubica en la margen derecha del valle medio del rio Sihuas al sur de Perú. Los datos recuperados durante dos temporadas de campo lo ubican cronológicamente en el Horizonte Medio, asociándolo directamente a la cultura Wari, evidenciando actividades específicas, entre...
Estudios Químicos sobre la Cal de Tlaxcallan del Posclásico Tardío (1250-1519 d.C.) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Tlaxcallan: Mesoamerica's Bizarro World" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La cal fue uno de los principales cementantes en Mesoamérica y es considerada un rasgo clave para identificar niveles de complejidad social debido al alto costo energético que conllevó su producción artesanal en sociedades preindustriales. La cal también fue utilizada ampliamente en la antigua Tlaxcallan durante el Posclásico Tardío (1250-1519...
Ethno-Archaeometry of Ochre Mineral Pigment Extraction, Transport, and Use in the Kenya Rift Valley (2018)
Ochre occurs in African archaeological sites from the later Middle Pleistocene to the ethnographic present. Ochre is used worldwide for symbolic and functional purposes, and is often considered to be evidence for symbolic behavior by cognitively modern Paleolithic humans. Geochemical provenience analysis, complemented by ethnographic studies of ochre source exploitation, transport, and use, can elucidate whether culturally mediated source exploitation differs significantly from a least-cost...
Evaluating long-term trends in seasonality and land-use changes in the post-Contact Llanos de Mojos (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Llanos de Mojos region in the Bolivian Amazon has a long history of human occupation that challenges long-held ideas about the nature of pre-Contact communities. It has a tropical savanna ecosystem with very strong seasonality, resulting in annual cycles of flooding and drought. Large, long-term sedentary populations appear to have adapted to this...
Evaluating Prehistoric Migration in Pacific Coastal Nicaragua through the Analysis of Strontium Isotope Ratios (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Strontium isotopes are increasingly used to infer migration amongst ancient populations. The 87Sr/86Sr ratio in tooth enamel is primarily influenced by the underlying geology of the region where an individual resided during tooth formation in childhood or adolescence. Older geological formations tend to present a higher 87Sr/86Sr ratio, while lower ratios...
Every Block of Stone Has a Statue Inside: Epipalaeolithic Engraved Plaquettes and Art at Kharaneh IV (2018)
Artistic objects are thought to be one of the hallmarks of the Natufian period, marking a florescence of artistic behavior appearing prior to the origins of agriculture. However, with continuing research into Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic sites in the Levant, new discoveries of ‘symbolic’ artifacts are increasing our understanding of even earlier artistic and symbolic pursuits. In this paper we present an engraved plaquette from the Middle Epipalaeolithic context of Kharaneh IV, eastern...
Evidence for Close Management of Sheep in Ancient Central Asia: Foddering Techniques and Transhumance in the Final Bronze Age (2018)
Ancient animal management strategies have important implications for debates on modern pastoral landscape use in Eurasia. As livestock production intensifies in in semi-arid regions there is a need to identify the diverse set of strategies employed by pastoralists. Sequential carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analysis of teeth from domesticated sheep at Bronze Age sites in Kazakhstan exhibit varied isotopic sequences. Sheep from Kent exhibit an inverse relationship where low δ18O values...
Evidence of Painted Mimbres Ceramic Production Patterns in the Sapillo Valley from the Analysis of Lake Roberts Vista Site Painted Sherd Collection (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences 2024" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation discusses the findings of a project investigating ceramic production in a hinterland of the Mimbres region, from a diachronic view across painted ware types. The Sapillo Creek Valley is a volcanic upland in southwestern New Mexico between the Mimbres and Gila River Valley culture-centers. The painted pottery recovered in 1995...
Examining Inter-regional Interaction in the Tiwanaku State (C.E. 500-1100) using 87Sr/86Sr Analysis of Building Material from a Provincial Ceremonial Center (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent approaches to inter-regional interaction emphasizing the study of heterogenous identities in peripheral contexts advance scholarly debate about sociopolitical organization in the archaic Andean state of Tiwanaku (C.E. 500-1100). The present study employs 87Sr/86Sr analysis to determine the source region of four archaeological ichu grass (Stipa ichu)...
Excavating the Archives: A Reanalysis of Artifacts Recovered from Catclaw Cave (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 1949, a master’s student at the University of Arizona, Barton Wright, undertook the first salvage excavation project at Catclaw Cave in anticipation of the construction of Davis Dam. The assemblage recovered by Wright and his team remains one of the best persevered dry shelter collections recovered from the region. This poster represents the results of...
Excavations at the Crane Dune Site (41CR61), a Prehistoric Habitation, Burial, and Lithic Cache Site in Crane County, Texas (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Crane Dune site (41CR61) was identified by AmaTerra archaeologists during a survey for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) prior to widening Highway 385 in Crane County, Texas. The site consists of at least two components (Late Prehistoric and Late Archaic) centered on stabilized sand dunes. The cultural occupations span a 40-50 cm thick dark...
Experimental Identification of Heat-Treated Silcrete Using Colorimetry and Reflectance Spectrophotometry (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Human Origins Migration and Evolution Research Consortium Poster Symposium" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The heat treatment of stone for tool production represents one of the oldest technologies for transforming the material properties of a natural product to better suit human needs. The earliest evidence for such technology is the heat treatment of silcrete at the South African Middle Stone Age site Pinnacle Point...
Exploring Hunter-Gatherer Mobility Using Sulfur, Carbon, and Nitrogen (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. δ34S can be used in conjunction with δ13C and δ15N to examine if people were accessing resources from within the same local area or were seasonally mobile to exploit foods from other regions. Here we apply this stable isotopic triad to investigate mobility of hunter-gatherers from the central Sierra Nevada region. The δ13C and δ15N results demonstrate a...
Exploring Production Methods of Casting Molds and the Artisans who Made Them (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Craft and Technology: Knowledge of the Ancient Chinese Artisans" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The production of Shang dynasty bronze vessels is based on the artisans’ mastery of loess material and how they manipulated them to produce the casting molds. From the beginning stage of raw material procurement to the firing of the molds, these steps all left marks in the molds’ microstructure and physical build up. The...
Exploring the Economic Sphere of Prestige Items through the Lens of Ancient Maya Greenstone Mosaic Masks (300–750 CE) (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Ancient Maya Embedded Economies" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. With the aim of exploring the economic system surrounding prestige Maya items during precolumbian times, we present research focused on greenstone mosaic masks (GMM) found in funerary precincts of high elite individuals in the Guatemalan Maya Lowlands. Through microarchaeological analyses of a select number of tesserae (n = 249) that form sections of 13...
Exploring the Engagement, Imagination, and Alignment of Potters and their Practices in Neolithic S. Calabria, Italy (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Mediterranean Archaeology: Connections, Interactions, Objects, and Theory" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this presentation we use the results of a raw materials survey, replicative experiments in the field and the laboratory, and physicochemical and mineralogical analyses of local geological clays and archaeological ceramics from the sites of Umbro Neolithic and Penitenzeria in Southern Calabria, Italy to ask 3...
The External Connections of the Yingpanshan Site Cluster in Western Sichuan, China (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Previous studies suggest that both painted pottery vessels and certain kinds of cereals, such as millets, were introduced to the Upper Min River from the north due to the expansion of the Neolithic cultures in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, during the fourth millennium BC. By investigating related ceramic samples and human and animal teeth and bones...
Fiber-Perishables Sourcing in the Northern Great Basin (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Strontium sourcing is a technique often used in sourcing the origin or migration patterns of animal and human remains but also used occasionally to source the growing location of plant material. While these studies are uncommon, they are not new. Here I will be presenting the eagerly awaited results of the sourcing data from Terminal Pleistocene and Early...