Portable XRF Analysis of Rock Art Pigments Used in Pictographs across the Great Basin

Summary

Although portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) has routinely been used successfully to identify the geochemical source of lithic materials across North America, comparatively few studies apply pXRF to compositional and geochemical sourcing studies of rock art pigments. Logan Simpson conducted exploratory in situ analyses using non-invasive pXRF to analyze the elemental composition of manufactured rock art pigments used to produce prehistoric pictographs at several rock art sites across the Great Basin. Results from these analyses are used to evaluate the potential of this type of analysis within the Great Basin region to: identify the minerals used in pigments; differentiate between pigment types; infer pigment preparation and application techniques; and detect the work of different artists, painting events, and re-touch episodes. GIS was also used to study the relationship between rock art sites and potential sources of pigments.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21541