Taking the Lab to the Field: Examinations at Etzanoa, Kansas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Quivira Revisited" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Taking scientific lab analyses into the field requires special equipment and planning. PaleoResearch arrived with our mobile field lab to support the archaeological field work. Remote analysis of pollen, phytoliths, seeds, charcoal, and protein residues all are possible, as are the more commonly employed portable XRF and even FTIR analyses. Protein residue analysis of a projectile point from Etzanoa yielded a positive reaction to turkey antiserum, indicating that people living at Etzanoa at or near the time of contact hunted turkeys. Survey at Etzanoa involved the local community, providing an opportunity to engage them in use of scientific equipment, such as use of portable XRF to discriminate between lead and other metal objects recovered. Lead balls from the battle were among the objects recovered. A night of presentations at a local community center included XRF analysis of local collections to further engage residents in the discovery of their local history and prehistory.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Quivira Revisited   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25972