Identification of Metal Cultural Remains from the Luna Settlement Site

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Plus Ultra: An examination of current research in Spanish Colonial/Iberian Underwater and Terrestrial Archaeology in the Western Hemisphere." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The identification of metal objects recovered from archaeological sites is a necessary step in the research process and is possible through multiple methods. Early approaches include the examination of documentary sources such as inventories and illustrations. However, the utility of such document-based research is limited by the formation of concretions, which are the result of iron oxide mixing with and cementing the damp soil around metal artifacts, especially those that are primarily composed of iron. With the introduction of technological advancements such as X-ray imaging, archaeologists can obtain more detailed views of the object inside the concretion. Further information is available using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) which allows archaeologists to look beyond simple morphology and examine the elemental composition of artifacts. These methods are currently in use by archaeologists to analyze metal artifacts recovered from the 16th-century Spanish Luna Settlement site in Pensacola, Florida.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• Plus Ultra: An examination of current research in Spanish Colonial/Iberian Underwater and Terrestrial Archaeology in the Western Hemisphere.

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 972