Geoarchaeological Investigation in a Domestic Iron Age Quarter, Tel Megiddo, Israel

FTIR-Based Crystallinity Assessment of Aragonite–Calcite Mixtures in Archaeological Lime Binders Altered by Diagenesis

“…Thus, the grinding curve method for aragonite including the pyrogenic form offers a quick reference in the analysis of archaeological sediments using FTIR. The occurrence of pyrogenic aragonite has been determined with FTIR several times in archaeological combustion features and plasters [12,31,[34][35][36]. However, the simultaneous presence of biogenic aragonite from shells, which is a common component of the archaeological record at many sites across the globe, requires a spectroscopic approach able to distinguish between the two.…”

“…Other fields that largely benefited from this analytical method are cultural heritage preservation and archaeology, and especially the study of anthropogenic carbonates. With grinding curves, it is possible to determine the formation process of unknown calcite crystals in sediments, artifacts and architectures, and to assess their state of preservation based on the degree of atomic order [28][29][30][31][32][33].…”

“…Since anthropogenic carbonates usually nucleate as calcite, their degree of atomic order is determined using calcite grinding curves. However, pyrogenic aragonite recently produced in experimental magnesium-free lime plasters together with calcite, and observed in archaeological carbonate-based materials [12,31,32,[34][35][36], has not been considered in previous infrared grinding curves. This lack of structural characterization hinders a proper assessment of the degree of preservation of lime binders comprised of aragonite-calcite mixtures, as to date there is no method for separating the contributions of the two polymorphs when they occur together in the same infrared spectrum.…”

An integrated geoarchaeological methodology to reveal site formation processes linked to building practices and pyrotechnology at Middle Neolithic Imvrou Pigadi, Greece

“…Previous research has shown that domestic fire temperatures usually range between 500°C and 600°C. More important, domestic fires do not “produce” sediments with such uniform intense reddening as is the case here, due to several factors such as spatial variability of temperatures, localized oxidizing/reduced conditions, initial point of conflagration and subsequent nonuniform fire spreading, and unequal burning duration and intensity (Forget & Shahack‐Gross, ; Harrison, ; Friesem et al, 2014a; Regev et al, ). However, Forget, Regev, Friesem, and Shahack‐Gross () have shown that a mud brick wall section, destroyed by fire, in Tell Megiddo, Israel was burnt at temperatures of 600–700°C, so producing a uniformly red debris, whilst the ambient heating temperatures ranged between 500°C and 550°C.…”

“…Friesem, Boaretto, Eliyahu-Behar, & Shahack-Gross, 2011;D. E. Friesem, Tsartsidou, Karkanas, & Shahack-Gross, 2014;Goldberg & Macphail, 2006;Macphail & Goldberg, 1995;Regev et al, 2015). The contribution of such methodologies, for instance, in the study of site formation processes, uses of space, building practices and material sourcing, establishes them as essential tools that substantially help to more accurately reconstruct and thus better understand past human activities and behavior (Berna et al, 2007;Courty, Goldberg, & Macphail, 1989;French, 2003;Goldberg & Macphail, 2006;Karkanas, 2001Karkanas, , 2002Karkanas, , 2010Matthews, French, Lawrence, Cutler, & Jones, 1997;Matthews, 2005aMatthews, , 2005bSchiffer, 1983;Shahack-Gross et al, 2005;Sillar & Tite, 2000).…”