Open Obsidian Geochemistry Visualization system for the Andes

Summary

Obsidian sourcing studies which provide valuable insights into archaeological mobility and interaction are enhanced by the availability of geochemical analyzers, and especially by the proliferation of portable X-ray fluorescence units. This year we are introducing an open source system for analysis of geochemical datasets available in web-based repository and based on R-Shiny, a browser based analysis and visualization system built on the R project. The Andean Geochemistry data archive, a new project hosted at OpenContext, combined with the R-shiny based analysis system, allows researchers to explore geochemical data interactively. We have uploaded a number of geochemical data sets from the Andes to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach when many datasets are available in a given area and to encourage more researchers to share their data in an open framework. While there remain obstacles to productive comparison of geochemical data in a given region, including problems with inter-instrumental comparability in particular, this system provides an architecture for sharing and visualizing these data in an open format to foster greater comparison between projects going forward.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Re-pensando la/s Movilidad/es Andina/s: Nuevas Perspectivas en Torno al Viaje, Contacto, Interacción, Intercambio y Obtención de Recursos en los Andes Centro-Sur   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15553