Development and Applications of a Minimally Destructive Method of Sourcing Shell via LA-ICP-MS

Summary

Shell artifacts and shell-tempered ceramics can be chemically sourced to point of origin because shellfish are in approximate chemical equilibrium with the waterways they inhabit. Analyzing artifacts or shell temper via Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry is attractive due to the minimally destructive nature of the method. A pilot study in Mississippi funded by the NCPTT verified the potential of the method for sourcing shell-tempered pottery. Subsequent work includes the chemical sourcing of a prehistoric shell "spoon" and application of the method to encrustated pottery from the Hungarian Plain. Other scholars are now applying the method in a variety of archaeological settings, emphasizing the positive effect of NCPTT "seed money" for spurring innovative applications in low-impact archaeological research.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• 20 Year Retrospective of National Center for Preservation Technology and Training sponsored Archaeology.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage