Quantum archaeology: Raman spectroscopy of FCR in south-central North America

Summary

Macrobotanicals, usually in the form of identifiable charcoal, have formed the basis of our archaeological evidence of what was cooked in earth ovens, and microbotanicals such as phytoliths, pollen, and starch grains are expanding that knowledge. There are, however, still limitations: for example, inulin does not have a microbotanical proxy. Inulin is the primary carbohydrate for many important plant foods such as onion, camas, agave and sotol. Raman spectroscopy, a type of vibrational spectroscopy, is a potential tool to identify these kinds of food residues. Researchers use vibrational spectroscopy to characterize a substance by measuring the change in a light’s wavelength as it passes through the substance. Raman spectroscopy has been used extensively in art and archaeology but not yet applied to fire cracked rock. This presentation reports on a Raman spectroscopy analysis of organic residues on fire cracked rock from earth ovens in south-central North America, attempting to develop a new technique for direct evidence of what was processed in earth ovens.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage