Empirical study of the effect of count time on the precision and accuracy of pXRF data

Newlander, Khori; Goodale, Nathan; Jones, George T.; Bailey, David G.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.07.007

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Although it is tempting to select a conservative, longer reading time, there are several scenarios where time can be a significant constraint, including when the objective is to process a large quantity of archaeological material. Accuracy is not necessarily impacted by shorter reading times and the relationship between reading time and precision is nonlinear Newlander et al 2015). Newlander et al (2015) have shown that, after empirically established inflection points, lengthening reading times does not markedly improve either reproducibility or accuracy.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accuracy is not necessarily impacted by shorter reading times and the relationship between reading time and precision is nonlinear Newlander et al 2015). Newlander et al (2015) have shown that, after empirically established inflection points, lengthening reading times does not markedly improve either reproducibility or accuracy. We repeatedly reran the same two internal standards to establish the point at which reproducibility declined significantly.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiple sources: The pXRF analysis of obsidian from Kenan Tepe, S.E. Turkey

Campbell

Healey

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Obsidian is often seen as a proxy for exchange and networking even though the relationship between these elements can be somewhat indirect. Nevertheless, recent studies which involve the provenance analysis of a large number of artefacts from a single site have opened up a number of avenues which are simply not visible when only a small number of artefacts can be provenanced. In this paper, after evaluating the efficacy of our pXRF protocol for the provenancing of large numbers of obsidian artefacts, we go on to use the data set we generated from Kenan Tepe, in SE Turkey, to discuss the wide range of sources present including the hitherto poorly understood Group 3d. Our integrated study of the techno-morphological and contextual aspects of the artefacts alongside the provenance analysis also allows us to track the use of obsidian through time and to profile the use of individual sources. HighlightsAttribution of 882 obsidian artefacts from late prehistoric/early historic Kenan Tepe, south east Turkey to their geological sources. Analysis of change through time in the use of obsidian sources at a single site. Importance of contextual analysis of obsidian use.The first large scale occurrence of the unlocated Group 3d obsidian.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple sources: The pXRF analysis of obsidian from Kenan Tepe, S.E. Turkey

Campbell

Healey

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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“…For what concerns geochemical sourcing of siliceous sedimentary rocks, difficulties arise because of the high heterogeneity in their chemical and lithologial compositions which makes the sources difficult to define and to distinguish one from the other (Newlander et al 2015).…”

Section: Geochemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) allows non-destructive analyses of the elemental composition of archaeological artefacts also outside the labs (e.g., in museums) (Newlander et al 2015) and is thus very useful when it comes to analyse valuable archaeological collections, as in the here presented case of the Copper Age arrowheads.…”

Section: Geochemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…pXRF was rarely used on sedimentary siliceous rocks and results of such analyses have only very recently started to be published (Tykot et al 2016;Pereira et al 2016;Newlander et al 2015). Newlander and collegues (2015), analyzed chert sources, together with obsidian, fine grained volcanic and metamorphic rocks, used by the prehistoric inhabitants of central and eastern Nevada.…”

Section: Geochemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New challenges in the study of lithic raw materials in central Italy at the dawn of metal working societies: La Pietra and other radiolarite quarry-workshops in Tuscany

Scaramucci

Volpi

Costantini

et al. 2016

JLS

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Abstract:In central-southern Tuscany radiolarite has been used as a lithic raw material throughout prehistory. During the Copper Age it was selected for the local production of leaf-shaped artefacts. In the area considered, the Copper Age record is almost totally restricted to burials and virtually no settlements have been investigated so far. Radiolarite artefacts are found mostly as refined arrow and, possibly javelin, heads used as grave goods.Within this context, the discovery and recent investigation of the large radiolarite quarry of La Pietra (Roccastrada, Grosseto) and of the related workshops is of great interest. Our aim here is to integrate the record from this site with other contemporary evidence of radiolarite exploitation. A programme of surveys has thus begun on the other radiolarite outcrops of the area in order to verify the existence of further rock quarrying or working. The discovery of a previously unknown quarryworkshop and two previously unknown workshops on radiolarite outcrops is presented here for the first time. The geological and archaeological data coming from the quarry-workshops will be used, in a future stage of research, to source the radiolarite artefacts found in Copper Age graves of Central Italy. The Copper age armatures are valuable artefacts mostly kept in museums and fully nondestructive analyses must be applied to them. To tackle these challenges, we followed a methodological approach which integrates field surveys, the individuation of petrographic markers of the most exploited radiolarite horizons and geochemical analyses. For geochemical characterization, we made use of pXRF portable spectrometer and here we present some preliminary results in the light of current methodological debate.In conclusion, even if some methodological questions remain open, we verified the feasibility of this programme of geographical, geological and geochemical characterizations and need now to increase our dataset in order to reconstruct a viable picture of Copper age lithic economy in centralsouthern Tuscany.

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Large‐scale geochemical survey by pXRF spectrometry of archaeological settlements and features: new perspectives on the method

Save¹,

Kovacik²,

Demarly‐Cresp³

et al. 2020

Archaeological Prospection

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Over the past several decades the geochemical study of archaeological sediments has experienced an increase in interest from archaeologists in search of new methods to investigate spatial organization and space function. Used with other proxies like geophysics, archaeobotany and micromorphology, geochemistry provides a new insight into microscopic pollution generated by past human activities, and thus can explain or confirm the function of features and spaces. Portable X‐ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry offers new perspectives to the archaeological community to test, develop and integrate geochemical surveys in the daily routine of fieldwork, especially in the developer‐funded archaeology sector. We have undertaken over 20 geochemical surveys using pXRF spectrometry, both in the field and on bulk samples, and from a wide variety of sites, sedimentological, and chronological contexts. Working exclusively on developer‐funded projects, we present a series of results detailing a range of chemical element associations, including details on how the data is organized spatially and how these data may be interpreted. For some associations, such as that between phosphorus, calcium and strontium, our work confirms and builds on existing studies. For other elements such as zirconium, or the association between potassium, chromium and vanadium, our work presents new data patterns as well as a series of new hypothesis; the interpretation of these patterns remains at an early stage and we hope that further work will be done to test and detail the origins of these chemical associations and enrichments, with the goal of confirming the human activities and/or natural processes from which they originated. The rapidity and cost‐efficiency of pXRF, especially when used in situ in the field, makes it the ideal method for documenting the geochemical characteristics of landscapes; the approach we have developed means that geochemical survey can become a regular part of archaeological practice.

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Empirical study of the effect of count time on the precision and accuracy of pXRF data

Cited by 22 publications

References 32 publications

Multiple sources: The pXRF analysis of obsidian from Kenan Tepe, S.E. Turkey

Multiple sources: The pXRF analysis of obsidian from Kenan Tepe, S.E. Turkey

New challenges in the study of lithic raw materials in central Italy at the dawn of metal working societies: La Pietra and other radiolarite quarry-workshops in Tuscany

Large‐scale geochemical survey by pXRF spectrometry of archaeological settlements and features: new perspectives on the method

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