Analysis of Culturally Derived Speleothem ny INAA: An Analytic Approach to Sourcing

Summary

The occurrence of "foreign" ceramic materials as well as the breakage and transport of speleothems during ancient Maya cave visitations have become an increasingly well-documented phenomenon (Brady et al. 1997). This phenomenon has raised several questions such as the spatial and temporal extent of these interactions, practices, meaning and specifically what does all this tell us about the relationship between Maya polities and proximal or distant caves.

Geochemical analysis of geological samples by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analyses (INAA) is a very common and reliable practice. In this study we analyzed (71) samples comprised of various types of speleothems (Stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, cave pearls) collected in various locales in Belize (Macal, Barton Creek, Pine Ridge, Roaring Creek, Cave’s Branch and Sibun Valley). Our samples came from two separate expeditions, the Belize Valley Speleothem Project provided by Dr. Holley Moyes (U.C. Merced), and Xibun Archaeological Research Project provided by Dr. Polly A Peterson. Our results indicate that INAA can be useful in profiling the variation within samples from the same cave; and the variability between different caves, thus making INAA a viable method of sourcing lithic materials

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Emerging from the Place of Darkness: Subterranean Archaeology in Mesoamerica

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17547