Artifacts From The Chinese Quarter Of Jacksonville, OR – The Chemical Story

Summary

Analytical chemistry is a valuable tool in the identification of historical artifacts for which visual inspection is inconclusive. This is often the case with bottles and jars holding unknown materials, especially when the containers themselves provide little or no evidence. Several of the artifacts recovered from the historical Chinese Quarter of Jacksonville, OR, were of this type. They included a variety of medicine bottles and vials with contents that could only be identified through chemical analysis. Containers with remnants of household products and art materials also presented interesting identification challenges. A particular problem came to light when the contents of a vessel were entirely at odds with its original purpose and both chemical sleuthing and a knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine were required to identify the material.

Cite this Record

Artifacts From The Chinese Quarter Of Jacksonville, OR – The Chemical Story. Kristine Madsen, Elizabeth Harman, Ray von Wandruszka, Chelsea Rose. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 434331)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 35